


A Smol GGO Streamer

by Hakkushi



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aincrad (Sword Art Online), Alicization Arc (Sword Art Online), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Format: Streaming, Gen, Gun Gale Online, POV Original Female Character, Translation, War of Underworld (Sword Art Online)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 59,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24661120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hakkushi/pseuds/Hakkushi
Summary: Several years had passed since the birth of the NerveGear and the subsequent arrival of full-immersion VR games. On video-sharing websites, a new phenomenon was making itself known.The phenomenon of VRMMO Let’s Play videos....so yeah, this fever dream came to me and I had to write it out.*This is a SAO comedy fic about a smol, foul-mouthed streamer going around PKing people with her eldritch pistols and generally just joyfully frolicking.*It’s absolutely a comedy fic, I swear.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 40





	1. A PK Stream

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [【仮】GGOのロリっ子配信者](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/632080) by 福岡の深い闇. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this thing came about after I had a thought that went like this:
> 
> “SAO is a VR game but it’s also an online game, right? That means it should work well with the recent streaming fad too, yeah? How do I write a fic about streaming though… huh, preeeetty sure it’s not supposed to be like this…”
> 
> It’s just an experimental fic so I’m sure there are going to be plotholes. But if you don’t mind that, if you’ve got the forgiving heart of a Buddha, then read on.

* * *

GGO Streaming Arc

* * *

Deep breath in.  
Deep breath out.  
Repeat for eight times.

It’s a routine I created to help myself deal with stage fright. A friend of mine told me it’s too much breathing, but personally I found it to be just right.

I set myself down on a watergel bed. A rather recent product on the market, it advertised itself to be capable of ‘reducing the weight on your body when sleeping by 80%’. Despite costing as much as a next-gen VR interface device, it sold out in just five hours after the product launch.

But well, having said that, I joined the bandwagon too myself.

Lying on the bed felt like lying on a chunk of wet jelly. I still found it weird, even now. My hand reached for the thing I’d left on top of the headboard.  
At first glance, it looked like a fashionable band of metal, or maybe a visor. Shaded brown and silver, it had three points of blinking lights across its length.

It was the AmuSphere, the next-generation VR interface device.

I silently stared at it for seconds and with a decisive huff of breath, placed it on my head. I closed my eyes to prevent the motion sickness that came with sudden change in vision. Once darkness was all I could see, I spoke the magic words to bring me to wonderland.

“Link Start.”

The world turned white.

●

I stayed motionless, my breathing silenced.

The sun was setting on the map. Night was coming soon. That would be great for me, but unfortunately the situation probably wouldn’t allow me to wait that long.  
  
In this wasteland of sand and rocks, scattered here and there were ruins of high-rise buildings that, according to the game’s lore, were ‘remnants of the previous age’, and the shadows of one of them was where I had hidden myself. With utmost caution, I poked my head out to watch the battle happening in front of me.  
  
A two-meters-tall giant of a man equipped with a rotary machine gun, the GE M134 “Minigun”, was pouring a storm of lead downrange, vaporizing structures and mowing down players alike. On the victims’ virtual bodies appeared innumerable bullet holes. Instead of spurting out blood, they simply dispersed into polygons in a cylindrical pattern.

“Like sheeps to the slaughter...”

_“wake up sheeple”  
“wake me up~ before you go”  
“go fight already”  
“shameless camper”_

“Shut up. I’ve got nothing but a handgun and a knife here.”

_“TOLD you to bring at least a rifle”  
“You sure that’s enough guns?”  
“No problem. Everything’s fine”  
“lol wrong person answering lolmao”  
“mixing lol with lmao makes absolutely no fucking sense”_

As the bullet storm with the wind speed of one hundred rounds-per-second continued its reaping advance, I watched, biding my time. My hand, that which would have been slick with sweat had this been reality, held tight to my main weapon-slash-trusty partner: P220, a semi-automatic pistol.  
  
Within this VRMMO, Gun Gale Online (GGO), pistols were the only type of weapons I owned. I’d been told again and again by other players that having at least an assault rifle or a shotgun equipped would improve survival and win rates by a ton. Of course I knew that. It was simply my choice to stick with pistols.  
  
I mean, look, isn’t it just cooler that way?

“Are you actually trying to tell me a pistol can win against a rotary machine gun?”

_“Snake could have done it”  
“with his bare hands too”  
“kept you waiting, huh?”_

“Be real, guys. I’m not a one-man army like he is.”

But of course, just as with everything else in life, sticking to my guns could only get me so far.  
  
I had encountered the squadron in front of me, the one with the minigun-wielder currently making a mess of the place, during one of my routine PK hunts in GGO. Charging in with nothing but a pistol and a knife would have been suicide. Anyone enough of a dunderhead to actually do that would’ve been turned into pincushion in seconds. At the same time, there were no signs of any other players nearby other than that squadron. Moving to another area to find other prey wouldn’t be interesting to my viewers.  
  
But then, just as I was wondering what to do, I noticed something.  
  
Most of the squadron were equipped with laser guns, meaning they were a PvE squadron. Yet they’d decided to sacrifice a part of their earnings and hunting efficiency to hire a bodyguard, which implied they’d met with PKers previously. And if they’d been PK’ed so frequently to have to resort to hiring a bodyguard, then the logical conclusion was that the PK squadron hunting them was somewhere nearby.  
  
And so, instead of entertaining my viewers with a blaze of glory, I decided to wait until the squadrons finished dealing with each other in order to finish off whoever’s left.

_“like watching someone going for a chicken dinner”  
“not even trying to be subtle”_

“Who cares, as long as I come out the winner.”

_“that’s what people says right before they die”  
“good job jinxing yourself”_

“Shut up.”

My conversation with my viewers was done in whispers as I continued to wait for the battle to be over.  
  
It took only several minutes, and it ended with a scene that looked like it came right out of a Hollywood action movie. With a final ear-shattering gunshot, the last one standing was, incredibly enough, not the heavy machine gun guy, but the sniper from the opposing squadron.

“Holy shit, that minigun guy actually lost?”

_“goddamn, can’t believe the Behemoth’s down”  
“who’s that? asking for a friend”  
“Behemoth’s the name of the minigun user who’ve never lost in a team fight. Until now”_

“Hold the fuck up, so earlier you guys actually tried to get me to fight him despite knowing who he is?”

_“eep”  
“nonono thats not true we swear (fake whistling)”  
“maybe remove that ‘fake’ part”  
“lol”_

I immediately got moving, all the while continuing to whisper to my viewers.  
  
As far as I could see, there were four people still alive. Two were from the minigun guy’s squadron, but I could ignore them since they were still stunned. The rest were the sniper that downed the big guy and one other person. Basically, I only needed to deal with two. Doable.  
  
From my inventory, I materialized a full-body cloak and put it on as quietly as possible. The transparent cloak emitted a faintly audible spark, and my vision slightly darkened. Anyone looking at me from the outside would only see the scenery.

“And the hunt begins…”

_“oshit”  
“lol absolutely no chill”  
“run sinon run”_

The Metamaterial Optical Camouflage Mantle — that was a mouthful — had dropped for me from a treasure chest deep within a dungeon I’d forgotten the name of. A super-rare item. It would fetch a few hundred thousands yen on auction houses.  
And its effect was commensurate with its rarity: upon being equipped, it turns its wearer invisible for a duration of time.  
  
God must have wanted me to be an assassin. Then who am I to say no to God?

The P220 was in my right hand, while my left hand held a knife taken from the grip of the gun, which had been modified beforehand with my Gunsmith skill to hold a knife. Then I snuck up to the sniper and stabbed her in the back.  
  
“Adieu.”  
“Wha-!”  
  
She’d let her guard down after that last battle, and my stab dug deep. My aim was, of course, her heart, as hitting the head or the stomach wouldn’t count as an instakill attack. The trick was to always make sure to follow up with at least two or three more stabs.

_“mommy im scared”  
“you seem awfully well-informed in matters of killing...”  
“I thought this was an FPS, not an AC game”_

“Y’all be quiet. I’m not done yet.”

The invisibility effect was already gone since I’d taken an offensive action, but it didn’t matter. While my next target was still recovering from his shock of seeing a person appearing out of nowhere, I yanked off the mantle, now nothing more than a restrictive piece of cloth, and threw it toward him.  
  
Mantle-type items generally had low durability, and this particular one even more so. It was the price to pay for its powerful effect. I was ninety percent sure it was going to get destroyed, but maybe I could get lucky this time.  
  
Goodbye, a few hundred thousands. Well, not really, since I got this one practically for free.

“Wha-shit!”  
  
My opponent shouted. The instant his vision was obscured by the mantle, I moved to his back. There was a bit of distance between us this time, so I unloaded my P220 on him.  
  
“Hi," I said, "and bye.”  
  
With a burst of suppressed gunshots, bullets peppered the golden trio of targets that were his skull, neck, and heart. The unfortunate player sank into the ground.

_“thank you ma’am-blamblamblam”  
“scarily efficient…”  
“do you work as a professional hitman or something? near pissed my pants here”_

“Alright, now there’s only the two being stunned over there.”

_“oh no jojo”  
“lol they’re literally quivering in their boots”  
“you would kill a defenseless man in cold blood?!”_

“Begone!”

_“lol”  
“lmao”  
“not even the decency to press F”_

Now that everyone’s dead, it was time to check my loot.

“Let’s see… yup, nothing really noticable aside from the Minimi. Ooooh, the Metamaterial Optical Camouflage Mantle! It liiiiived!!”

_“it’s aliveeeee!!”  
“that’s more than enough isn’t it”  
“sure feels bad for whoever dropped this…”  
“man that’s an awesome chicken dinner”_

I took a walk around the battlefield, making talk with my viewers at normal volume (since I didn’t need to hide anymore) in the meanwhile. And then, I noticed a stupidly huge sniper rifle dropped near the sniper I assassinated.  
  
“Hmm…?”  
  
A quick look at its item details revealed that it was one of the only ten anti-materiel sniper rifles in this game. A super rare item.  
  
“Whoahohoh!! I’ve got an anti-materiel rifle!!”

_“CHONK LUCK”  
“motherfucking wat”  
“is that the Hecate II…?”  
“oh no…”  
“oh no…”_

“Alright, got my chicken dinner so I’m ending the stream today. The next stream would be… I guess organizing the loot and some chit-chatting or something.”

_“ayy”_   
_“yeaa”_   
_“nice!”_   
_“nice”_

I spent some time looting most of the remaining items there while making merry with my viewers. After I was done, I went into GGO’s main menu to call up the settings for the external streaming application and pressed the “End Stream” button. My inventory, formerly desolate save for my pistol and knife, was now chock-full of items. Satisfied with today’s fruitful hunt, I departed for the capital city SBC Glocken.

So ended a look into a day in the life of Bell, a GGO player and livestreamer. That’s me.

●

Several years had passed since full-immersion VR games, also called ‘FullDive games’, appeared on the market.

NerveGear, the sensational first-generation FullDive VR interface device, had been born from the mind of Kayaba Akihiko, and it had also been by his hand that the lives of several thousand people had been lost within Sword Art Online, the world’s first VRMMO. For a time, the VR game industry was plunged into a dark age. The VR game market itself seemed to be teetering on the edge of oblivion.

But then came RECT Inc. and their announcement of a new VR interface device that focused on safety and security: the Amusphere. Along with the subsequent governmental intervention and the return of the SAO players, the VR industry gradually came back to life.

And some time later, another helping hand came in the form of the Seed, a package of systems for creating virtual reality worlds which had appeared suddenly and mysteriously on the internet, free for anyone to download. The barrier of entry for virtual reality development was drastically lowered, and the need for specialized skills and equipment was no longer there.

At the moment, nearly every single virtual worlds existing on the Internet made use of the Seed. The line between indie and corporate development had been blurred. The internet was now home to a vast universe of realities.

So yeah, virtual reality was pretty much everywhere in the real world now. I’d even heard of some companies that had opened offices in virtual space, whose employees would go to work with the Amusphere or some other VR interface device. The whole company was virtual.

A friend of mine lamented the situation, saying it might as well be the end of the world as we know it. If everything began to revolve around virtual reality, then the lines between what’s real and what’s virtual would start to blur.

As a matter of fact, there had been some hubbub about a new “VR diet” trend wherein one would eat virtual food to fool the body into thinking it’s full, which was really just one step away from trying to kill yourself. So what that friend of mine said wasn’t entirely wrong, I supposed.

But I digress.

Even in this day and age — the ‘Golden Age of Virtual Reality’, to borrow a classic phrase — there was still a certain amount of demand for uploaded videos.

Of course there was. Real, physical LCD displays were still the norm after all. It wasn’t like absolutely everything had gone virtual, and in fact video games to be played on physical displays were still popular. Plus the emergence of the new VR game genre had also caused a resurgence in the popularity of a certain genre of videos.

“Let’s Play” videos.

As the name suggested, in these videos, the uploader or the streamer played a game in order to entertain their audience, whether it be through showcasing their skills or simply the gameplay.

If the video gained popularity, the developers of the game being played might decide to send a review copy of their new game to the player as a way to advertise, or even sponsor the player.

The player could insert advertisements into their videos and earn money from views. Some enterprising Let’s Players had even managed to make it their livelihood.

And so, here I was, filming from the virtual world. Just another one among the multitude of Let’s Players and streamers out there.

●

“Hello everyone. So today, we’re going to talk while I sort out my loot from last time.”

_“ayy we’re on”  
“hii”  
“first time viewer here”  
“hi”  
“heard you’re selling the Hecate II” _

“Hi hi, welcome back. And thanks for coming, new viewers. I’m Bell, a GGO streamer. Also Pito, just because it’s my usual loot-checking stream doesn’t mean I’m selling it just yet, so calm your tits.”

_“tsk”  
“still a whale as always lol”  
“normal pros earn money from this game, Pitohui sinks money into it instead” _

I was in my personal room in the outskirts of SBC Glocken, a room I’d bought with my own money that I’d saved bit by bit, day after day. At the moment, just as I’d said in my last stream, it was time to organize my loot.

For the benefit of my viewers, I first materialized all the items I got last time on the room’s floor. The Metamaterial Optical Camouflage Mantle that I’d managed to retrieve was there too.

I didn’t actually _need_ it, to be honest; I could still assassinate people just fine without it. Plus it was going to break sooner or later the way I kept abusing it, so I was thinking to find a buyer before that happened.

“Anyone who want the mantle, put your hands~ in the air~ like you don’t care~”

_“oof I think I just got diabeetus”  
“here here here”  
“will pay whatever you want”  
“calm your tits Pito”  
“can I buy the bell instead?”  
“reported” _

“Alright, I’m putting it on auction now, go bid! Room ID is 55324.”

Ignoring the pervert, I opened an auction for the Camouflage Mantle. The auction site I used was a bit unusual. It let the seller open a private room and invite buyers into it, allowing the seller a certain amount of freedom to choose their buyers.

The room gradually filled up with GGO players looking for the mantle, and the bidding price kept rising higher and higher.

...but in fact, it was really just Pitohui’s monopoly. She had a bad habit of whaling, not just for rare weapons but also for rare items such as this, with her real money. And the worst thing about her was that the amount of cash she had to burn was one or two degrees of magnitude more than the common player.

Admittedly, her whaling was great for me, since I made use of the game’s currency conversion feature and my videos’ monetization to pay for my living cost. But still.

“Right, so it went to Pitohui just like always… come on girl, leave it for other people once in a while, won’t you?”

_“aww but your stuff’s always sooooo dope I can’t help myself, teehee”  
“bitch don’t act cute with us”  
“so long, mantle…”  
“that bid had way too many fucking zeroes” _

“Really appreciate it though, I mean it… though are you eating okay in real life?”

_“np”  
“liar, I can smell stacks of instant ramen all the way from over here”  
“that smell’s actually coming from you”  
“how did you know???”  
“lol” _

And then the next item to go on auction, the Minimi, also went to Pitohui. I didn’t feel like selling the Hecate II yet, so it was time for random chit-chats.

“By the way, I’m surprised so many of you are still awake at this time… are you sleeping right?”

 _“no school tomorrow so np”  
“don’t need to go to work until later so np”  
“don’t even have work so np”  
_ _“your very existence is one big p”  
“ooof right in the unemployment” _

“Remember to get enough nightly sleep, students! Or else you’re going to grow up short like me!”

_“breaking news: Bell actually short in real life too”  
“srsly? gotta go simp”  
“so it’s not just your avatar that’s loli then” _

“No no no I don’t actually look like a loli in real life, okay?! I’m just a bit short, okay?!” I shouted, trying to convince my viewers.

Our talk went on. The topic meandered from time to time, such as my rambles about practicing cool ways to reload a pistol or how cool dual-wielding pistols are, but then I remembered something I’d been meaning to ask for quite some time.

“Speaking of which, are there people watching me who don’t play GGO?”

_“I’m in ALO but I really like your streams”  
“I don’t really touch VR games myself”  
“same” _

“There are people who don’t play VR games at all?!” I said, truly surprised. “...umm, so can I ask why…?”

_“well, you know…”  
“it’s scary, isn’t it? like that SAO thing”  
“no dumbass we don’t talk about that here”  
“though watching your stream on a screen’s like watching a normal FPS so I’m fine with it” _

“Aaah… yeah, that’d be it…” 

I understood where they were coming from. At the same time, these comments, comments about how ‘VR games are scary’, once more reminded me how deep the trauma that the mad genius Kayaba Akihiko had left behind with his SAO game went. And it was also exactly that trauma that had given VR gaming streams a certain amount of popularity.

_“I like it though. That excitement of kill-or-be-killed inside a game”_

“Pito, shut up.”

_“lol”  
“such a natural born psychopath I can’t even laugh about it”  
“please don’t let me see you being arrested for actual murder on the news”  
“I shall endeavor to better myself henceforwards”  
“shit somebody do something about this crazy bitch…” _

Afterward, to clear out the gloomy atmosphere, I decided to went out to the field for a shooting test with the Hecate II.

Then I saw the sniper from the other day, looking murderously wrathful.

“DIEEEEEEE!!!”

“Ah wait hold on—”

She killed me and got the Hecate II back. Noooooo…

●

**[Loli Streamer]** The Bell Thread, Part 6

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a loli VR streamer who’d popped up from out of nowhere. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there, haters. It’s not like there’s any decent one among you toxic cesspool anyway.

 **[Hater Thread]** absolute Bellend lolol → Link

2: Anonymous Gamer

thanks for new thread OP, still scathing against haters as always

3: Anonymous Gamer

thanks op

4: Anonymous Gamer

fun stream today

5: Anonymous Gamer

sinon had absolutely no chill lol

6: Anonymous Gamer

well of course she would be… she got to that level only by sniping with the hecate right? if I was her and I lost my main wep (a super rare hecate too at that) I’d probably just quit the game entirely

7: Anonymous Gamer

>>6 

her fault for jumping out when she’s supposed to be a sniper

8: Anonymous Gamer

true

9: Anonymous Gamer

>>7

its combat high, can’t blame her

10: Anonymous Gamer

combat in VRMMO pumps your brain full of adrenaline, so yeah. Especially when it comes to realistic games like GGO

11: Anonymous Gamer

and there are games where you swordfight at melee range like ALO too, so…

12: Anonymous Gamer

getting off topic

13: Anonymous Gamer

soz, noob here, only started watching bell from current stream. can any gentleperson of culture give me a tl;dr of her?

14: Anonymous Gamer

go watch the archive

nah just kidding, you’ll have to slog through over 4000 hours of footage that way. >>16 will give you a summary

15: Anonymous Gamer

>>14

lol lazyass

16: Anonymous Gamer

 **A Monkey’s Guide to Our Lovely Idol Bell** (everyone is welcome)

Q. So who _is_ Bell anyway?  
A. A female VR streamer who just suddenly popped up one day on Nickovideo. Managed to pull from GGO’s random avatar lottery a rare and (this is the important part) **smol** avatar. Her playstyle is pistol-and-knife only, like a certain serpent.

Q. So what’s so lovely about her?  
A. **Everything, you fool**. Well okay jokes aside, here are the reasons:

  * Appearance. Loli is justice.
  * Voice. Loli is justice.
  * Personality. Her character jumps all over the place, but that’s what makes it good.
  * Skill. Her knife kills are literally hitman-level good.
  * History. No official confirmation just yet, but hints from what she’d said seems to imply she’s a SAO survivor.



17: Anonymous Gamer

>>16 No official confirmation just yet, but hints from what she’d said seems to imply she’s a SAO survivor.

srsly?

18: Anonymous Gamer

>>16 No official confirmation just yet, but hints from what she’d said seems to imply she’s a SAO survivor.

srsly?

19: Anonymous Gamer

>>16

that was hella fast. also srsly?

20: Anonymous Gamer

>>17 >>18 >>19

lol

21: Anonymous Gamer

well she does look very used to PvP… I guess I can see it

22: Anonymous Gamer

>>16

thanks, gonna skim through the archive now

23: Anonymous Gamer

>>22

personally I recommend the underground dungeon episode, it’s a masterpiece

24: Anonymous Gamer

>>23

yeah that one was amazing

25: Anonymous Gamer

it really was. Apparently bell’s terrible with horror stuff since she kept screaming all the time when going through the dungeon. kawaii af

26: Anonymous Gamer

>bell screamed

>aggroed monsters with the noise

>screamed some more

rinse and repeat

27: Anonymous Gamer

that was the episode when she found the camo mantle right?

28: Anonymous Gamer

think that was in another dungeon episode

29: Anonymous Gamer

speaking of the mantle, pitohui’s got it now…

30: Anonymous Gamer

well yeah… she’s filthy rich

31: Anonymous Gamer

>>29 >>30

she embodies the mindset of ‘if you don’t get it, throw more money at it’. she’s not just a whale, she’s a kraken.

32: Anonymous Gamer

bell’s wallet tho

33: Anonymous Gamer

well it’s thanks to pitohui bidding at stupid prices that bell can live on GGO and stream monetization

34: Anonymous Gamer

>>33

not really

35: Anonymous Gamer

>>33

the stuff Bell gets are already expensive in the first place. if she sells them at normal prices on internet auctions, she should still be able to earn a steady 200k to 300k yen a month.

36: Anonymous Gamer

and with the appearance of the oil baroness that is Pitohui, Bell’s wallet only gets fatter and fatter

37: Anonymous Gamer

shit man now that i think about it Bell really is crazy

38: Anonymous Gamer

What’s really crazy about Bell is her combat skills. Her aiming is about the average for GGO players, but once she gets to melee range, oh boy.

She dodges as though she’s predicting the bullet prediction lines, and it’s not just a fluke either. Even if she took a Martial Arts skill, it still wouldn’t be enough to explain the things she did unless she’s got the actual experience to back it up.

39: Anonymous Gamer

(except against snipers)

40: Anonymous Gamer

well that’s only because the game doesn’t show the prediction line for the first shot…

41: Anonymous Gamer

yeah, there was that one time she got sniped from start to finish when she was trying to PK wasn’t there?

42: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah that time she ragequitted and cut the stream

43: Anonymous Gamer

lol

44: Anonymous Gamer

also there’s that episode with the pink devil

45: Anonymous Gamer

ah yes, the pink brigadier vs bell episode

46: Anonymous Gamer

>>45

wut

47: Anonymous Gamer

you know how for a time, there was a famous PKer called the Pink Devil at GGO’s desert map? her schtick was approaching with maxed-out AGI, then spraying bullets with an SMG at melee range. like the Italian Red Brigades, basically. she got so infamous there was a party formed just to bring her down.

48: Anonymous Gamer

and then our Bell poked her nose in

49: Anonymous Gamer

and got wrecked by the pink devil

50: Anonymous Gamer

rofl


	2. A Shopping Stream

“Heyoo. Good morning.”

_“hi. like always it’s night in rl though”_ _  
_ _“hii”_ _  
_ _“hello”_ _  
_ _“it’s noon in GGO so it still counts”_

“Nice to see you guys again. Today we have… hmm, no new viewers, looks like. Well then. Hello, it’s Bell here with another GGO stream, just like always.”

_“yaay”_ _  
_ _“bell, the comedian streamer who didn’t even manage to keep a rare weapon for a single day”_ _  
_ _“come on don’t say that, it’s not like she wanted to be a comedian”_

“Yo fucker, don’t think I didn’t see you.”

_“soz”_ _  
_ _“soz”_

I let loose a long sigh.

As was my daily schedule, I was currently logged into GGO and streaming through an external application supported by the Amusphere.

I was in my personal room in the suburbs of SBC Glocken. Whatever credits I earned in-game that wasn’t used to pay for my living necessities I put into my saving account, and it had taken hours after tireless hours of doing nothing but farming monsters and PK’ing people to get enough money for this room. The purchase itself took a whole eighty percent of my savings, and these days, there wasn’t a single one of my streams that didn’t have the room showing up.

In fact, there’d even been a few chatting streams that had begun and ended inside the room without me making a single step outside — the room was just _that_ comfortable. With furniture that took me another seven digits of game credits to buy, it had been transformed into a bewitching sanctum. My very own womancave.

“Ooof…” I exhaled slowly, sinking into a bean bag, “...so what was my plan today again?”

_“you need an intervention”_ _  
_ _“there are beanbags in this game?”_ _  
_ _“first time I’ve seen a liquid human”_ _  
_ _“totes adorbs”_

“No wonder they called this the Slothinator… maybe I should buy a real one too…”

After about ten minutes of me talking to my viewers without moving an inch, I finally found the determination to make my escape. You’ll never take me alive, evil couch!

“Argh… I’m stuck… go on without me… save yourself...”

_“lol raspberry award candidate”_ _  
_ _“stand up already”_ _  
_ _“get ready in thirty seconds, maggots!”_ _  
_ _“sir, yes sir!!”_

“Fine, fine, I’m up.”

_“suddenly SERIOUS”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“weren’t you supposed to be stuck lol”_ _  
_ _“so do you remember where to go now?”_

“Watch your words guys, make fun of me too much and one day your chest might just suddenly grow a new knife. My destination today is… right, it’s over there. A market a bit to the side of Glocken’s center. It’s about time I get a new handgun.”

_“true, your current stuff is pretty much just traditional army loadout”_ _  
_ _“so we’re going shopping today?”_ _  
_ _“go buy a rifle”_ _  
_ _“I recommend an SMG”_

“I’m buying a pistol.”

_“(´・ω・｀)”_ _  
_ _“(´・ω・｀)”_ _  
_ _“_ (´・ω・`) _”_ _  
_ _“oh god it’s looking straight into my soul”_ _  
_ _“lolmao”_ _  
_ _“mixing lol with lmao makes no goddamn sense”_

Well, no point in dragging this out any longer. I put on the camo-patterned coat I bought for fashion the other day, put my pistol and knife into their holsters, and left the room.

I put the map up onto a corner of my vision and began moving, finding my way through SBC Glocken’s alleys and stairs, the path reminiscent of the real-life Tokyo railway station. After several minutes of walking and talking with my viewers, I came out to a main street. Right in front of me was my destination, a large gun mall decorated with bright neon lights and signboards. It reminded me of a real-life hardware store.

This gun shop was where the majority of new GGO players would find themselves visiting time after time. It sold all sorts of firearms, from live-ammo guns to laser guns, that would stay with their customers until they could acquire high-quality loot drops from monsters or dungeons.

In this game, most pistols were considered sidearms, and there weren’t many types of powerful pistols that could be acquired as loot drops. The majority of usable pistols came from this shop. The P220 I was using at the moment had also been bought from here.

“Let’s see, which one should I go for… most of the Sig Sauers I’ve already bought and tried, so…”

_“how about a glock?”_ _  
_ _“colts are cool too”_ _  
_ _“come on guys it’s gotta be a beretta”_ _  
_ _“it’s about time for the 3rd BoB, are you joining?”_

“You seriously think a pistol can go head-on against rifles and shotguns?”

_“blahblahblah rifles somethingsomething told you so”_ _  
_ _“to stay loyal to only pistols and knives despite all logic, truly an example to not follow”_ _  
_ _“lol”_

“Hmph, I see there are peasants still ignorant of the virtues of pistols among you.”

As I browsed the shop’s pistol corner, excitedly checking out my viewers recommendations, I saw a signboard with the words “GUN OF THE MONTH”. My eyes were immediately taken by the pistol being showcased below it.

“Oh… oh my…”

Its full name was the CZE CZ 75 SP-1 Tactical.

I already had in my possession a CZ 75, as a matter of fact. It was a semi-automatic, double-action pistol developed by a nationalized Czech firearm manufacturer during the postwar period. Its superior accuracy and comfortable ergonomics were some of the reasons why it had been lauded as a masterpiece, and it had also been my go-to gun within GGO for a time.

But the CZ 75 SP-1 Tactical in front of me had a distinct feature that set it apart from its siblings.

It had a spiked tactical block for use in close combat, as well as an accessory rail on which was mounted a _bayonet_.

_“oh noes…”_ _  
_ _“ah”_ _  
_ _“shit”_

“THIS! THIS! ABSOLUTELY THIS!”

The little kid inside of me had instantly fallen in love with it. Without a moment of hesitation, I jabbed the display case and tapped the Purchase button that came up. An NPC lady then appeared from out of nowhere to give me a receipt. I instantly confirmed, far too impatient to even bother taking a look.

With a shrill electronic sound, the gun’s price was deducted from the credits I carried in my inventory, and the SP-1 Tactical materialized on top of the panel the lady was holding in front of me.

“Yeaaahaaahh!!! Bad! Ass!”

_“aargh where’s my insulin”_ _  
_ _“pistol bayonets, the accessory of hope and dreams”_ _  
_ _“am I the only one honestly thinking this is cool?”_ _  
_ _“don’t worry man, me too”_ _  
_ _“that is the edgiest gun”_

I leaped for the gun in exuberance. The NPC lady vanished into god-knows-where as soon as the gun was in my hand, but the fact didn’t register in my mind — the bayoneted pistol was all I could think of. I posed with the gun, aiming it toward thin air and pretend-shoot at imaginary enemies.

“Bang! Bang! Stab! And you’re dead!”

_“cute”_ _  
_ _“cute”_ _  
_ _“too cute”_ _  
_ _“adorbs”_ _  
_ _“I did that all the time when I was a kid”_ _  
_ _“haven’t you heard of gun control? why aren’t you arrested yet?”_ _  
_ _“I was obviously talking about airsoft guns dumbass”_

God this is so fun.

“Alright let’s buy another one so I can dual-wield!!!”

_“fucking wat”_ _  
_ _“no u stupid stop”_

“DYNAMIC ENTRYYYYY!!!”

_“too late”_ _  
_ _“oh boy”_ _  
_ _“can’t even laugh at this”_

I bought another one. Total cost of today’s purchase, 340,000 credits.

●

It took me some time to finally recover from my bout of madness.

“...I’m sorry, I got a bit too into playing with the guns and forgot about you all.”

_“that wasn’t just ‘a bit’ you know”_ _  
_ _“was super cute though so it’s fine”_ _  
_ _“a feast for the eyes”_ _  
_ _“if anything I’d pay to see that again heheheh”_ _  
_ _“reported”_

“I’m really, really sorry.”

I apologized to my viewers as I moved to leave the store, but I stopped after only a few steps.

“...hmm? what’s happening over there?”

Opposite the pistol area and sitting in a corner of the shop was a booth for a mini-game. This particular one was infamous among GGO players for being ‘impossible’, and people considered it as nothing more than a carnival game where you could pop in some five-hundred credits leftover from your shopping trip and test your luck. There was a crowd around it at the moment.

“...should we take a look?”

_“plox”_ _  
_ _“ya I’m a bit curious”_

“Alright then.”

With the agreement of my viewers, I let my curiosity take me toward the carnival game. 

But then I saw Sinon, the murderous sniper who had just blown my head off with an SMG the other day.

“...ergh.”

_“oh hey sinon”_ _  
_ _“surprised she’s here”_ _  
_ _“is ammunition for the Hecate II sold near here? don’t remember”_ _  
_ _“hey bell that’s not a face you should make”_

I didn’t really like her. I mean sure, that was completely my fault, I admit that, but you gotta understand. She had come at me shooting her SMG at the hips while looking absolutely _deranged_ , as though she had sworn a blood oath that she’d quit the game if she hadn’t been able to kill me right there and then. 

It felt like I had a mafioso out for my head. It made it really difficult to approach her.

“Can I go home?”

_“no retreat, no surrender”_ _  
_ _“in fact go talk to her. right now”_ _  
_ _“_ _this should be amus_ _… ahem, I mean, it’ll be amusing for us, which is why you should talk to her”_ _  
_ _“hey I think you had a typo, you just said the same thing again”_

“One day I will find you and I will _kill you_.”

_“eep”_

Though it looked like the vast majority of my viewers wanted me to make contact. If I didn’t do it now, people would start to complain. And then bad things would happen and I’d get less viewers. 

Flawless reasoning, see? Which was why I had no choice but to carefully approach her.

“Ahem, uh, excuse me, miss Sinon?” 

“Mm? Ah, it’s you.”

_“first contact”_ _  
_ _“ffffrieeennddd”_ _  
_ _“greetings, we come in peace”_ _  
_ _“ET go home already, stop watching streams”_

Surprisingly, all she did after noticing me was raising an eyebrow, her poker face unchanging. Apparently she didn’t hold a grudge.

“Miss… Bell, right?” She asked.

“Yes. I’m a GGO streamer.”

“Streamer?”

_“sure likes to talk about yourself don’t you”_  
_“never one to miss a chance to self-advertise, truly an example for streamers everywhere”_ _  
_ _“so you do know how to introduce yourself, good girl”_

I suppressed the flash of irritation at my viewers and continued my conversation.

“Speaking of which, why are you here?” I asked her, “I thought ammunition for guns like the Hecate II was sold in another section…”

“Well...”

She answered me by pointing her fingers. My eyes followed, and I saw a girl with long, black hair currently doing a pretty good job of dodging the bullets fired by a cowboy in the western-themed minigame.

“...I’m helping her out a bit,” Sinon finished.

“Hmm, must have just started the game considering that equipment,” I commented, “...why is she playing that minigame? Gotta say she’s pretty good though.”

“For credits, she said.” 

“She probably… actually scratch that, she definitely has nothing but the beginning credits the game gave her. Huh, sure is a confident one.”

_“how come people are bashing her so much?”_ _  
_ _“that minigame’s famous for being so fucking unfair even top GGO players can’t clear it”_ _  
_ _“the gunslinger is just broken”_ _  
_ _“ic”_

The long-haired girl was still continuing to dodge bullets during my conversation with Sinon, and she finally crossed the five meters line. Her achievement was celebrated with a loud fanfare. The crowd of onlookers stirred in surprise.

“If she could get that far, maybe she has a chance,” I remarked.

“Just how did she manage to train her reflexes?” Sinon muttered in awe.

My viewers’ attention seemed to be somewhere else entirely, however. 

_“I can see it bouncing… bouncing…”_ _  
_ _“her hair right? cuz she has no other places that can bounce”_ _  
_ _“you dare to disrespect the dfc???”_ _  
_ _“lol”_

As the two of us continued to watch the girl, I noticed her eyes. Her unblinking gaze was focused on one spot.

The gunslinger NPC’s own eyes. 

Or to be more precise, she was looking at where the NPC was looking.

Accompanying my discovery was surprise and at the same time, understanding. She must have discerned the one characteristic that all VRMMO characters shared. Combined that with her movements. The way she lowered her center of gravity. The way one of her arm hung loose and her hand clenched, as though gripping something.

I knew people like her. People who had learned the skill to predict attacks by following their opponents’ gazes, who had learned that particular way of running with a melee weapon in one hand.

People who had fought, lived, and died in the castle of iron created from the deluded mind of a single genius.

“A SAO survivor…?”

The words slipped out of my mouth in a whisper. Sinon looked at me, puzzled.

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing, never mind.”

_“yeah I thought bell would notice too”_ _  
_ _“who are SAO survivors?”_ _  
_ _“as it says on the tin, people who survived and came back from Sword Art Online. They’re hardcore fighters who’ve survived the hell that is a melee-only death game for an entire two years. It’s why ALO and similar games have those insane OP players”_ _  
_ _“how u know that?”_ _  
_ _“it’s obvious in how the girl moves and how she dodges”_ _  
_ _“which means you’re a survivor too aren’t you”_ _  
_ _“bingo”_

But if she really was a survivor, then a question remained. 

Of the SAO survivors who were eccentric enough to continue playing VR games, the vast majority of them would choose ALO or other similar melee-focused action games, since the skills they’d gained in the castle of iron would be useful there. Which wasn’t to say that those skills weren’t useful in this game of guns and bullets, of course — they still were.

Still, why was she in this game?

As my gaze continued to be fixed on the girl who had, by now, crossed the ten meters line without breaking a sweat, I spoke to the sniper.

“Sinon, I think she might actually win this.”

“Whaat? Come on, that’s impossible. How can anyone dodge that unfair reloa—”

She stopped mid-word, stunned by the sight before her.

The gunslinger reloaded with such speed it looked like he was on fast-forward and instantly let loose three bullets. All of them missed the long-haired girl, who had dodged with reflexes that bordered on clairvoyance.

“...no way.” Sinon whispered.

_“holy sheiiiiiitttt”_ _  
_ _“what the fuck was that”_ _  
_ _“she must have been one of the clearers, totally”_ _  
_ _“survivorfag flexing on us”_ _  
_ _“that’s flexing?”_

Next came gunshots with a delay, which she had also dodged… was that even dodgable with just prediction alone? Maybe that one viewer comment was right. Maybe she really was a clearer.

The girl ran, coming closer and closer…

...and finally touched the gunslinger.

“No way…” muttered Sinon, who was still broken.

The NPC went down on his knees with an exaggerated “Oh my gooooddd!!!” scream, and a round of fanfare so loud it near gave me a concussion blared from around the girl. Gold coins rained down into a pile near her feet and vanished. If I remembered correctly, the last time I saw this game the rewards had been a bit over 270,000 credits. And with the increase in the reward pool since then, I expected the amount of credits in the girl’s possession to have reached around three hundred thousand by now.

“So that minigame _is_ winnable, then,” I remarked.

“...no way…”

_“sniper girl’s vocabulary has been nothing but two words for a while now”_ _  
_ _“well yeah that really was unbelievable”_ _  
_ _“girl was literally superhuman in that last bit”_

After watching the minigame, I said goodbye to Sinon and left the gun shop. I heard her shouting from behind me “You predicted the prediction lines?!” but I wasn’t all that surprised. From what I’d seen of the long-haired girl, it sounded entirely possible for her.

“...well, quite a few things happened today, but I got my new pistols so it’s all good. Plus I found out Sinon didn’t hate me. It’s a good place to end the stream, I think.”

_“bye”_ _  
_ _“bb”_ _  
_ _“byeee”_ _  
_ _“thanks for the stream”_ _  
_ _“go pk with the CZ 75 next time”_

“Of course. That’s my plan.”

_“weee”_ _  
_ _“dual wielding pistol bayonets is gonna be the coolest shit, gotta record next ep”_

“Alright guys, good night!”

●

**[Loli Streamer]** The Bell Thread, Part 6

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a loli VR streamer who’d popped up from out of nowhere. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there, haters. It’s not like there’s any decent one among you toxic cesspool anyway.

**[Hater Thread]** absolute Bellend lolol → Link

...  
...  
...

436: Anonymous Gamer

fun stream today too

437: Anonymous Gamer

bell was like a kid in a toy store, super cute

438: Anonymous Gamer

>>437

here’s the clip, enjoy:

just Bell frolicking with her guns

439: Anonymous Gamer

>>438

good work

440: Anonymous Gamer

>>438

niceeeeee

441: Anonymous Gamer

>>438

the sound of the bells of joy

442: Anonymous Gamer

Ding-dong! The Bellringer Angel is here!

443: Anonymous Gamer

take that shadowverse shit outta here

444: Anonymous Gamer

lol shadowverse

445: Anonymous Gamer

so you know how live ammo guns in GGO are made through licenses from the actual gun makers themselves? which means that the gun bell played with actually exist

446: Anonymous Gamer

holy shit nobody told me this

447: Anonymous Gamer

somebody

448: Anonymous Gamer

once

449: Anonymous Gamer

told me

450: Anonymous Gamer

the world is C-C-COMBO BREAKER

451: Anonymous Gamer

>>447 >>448 >>449 >>450

lol

btw the name’s CZ 75 SP-1 Tactical right? google gave me this: Link

452: Anonymous Gamer

>>451

whoa that’s fucking cool

453: Anonymous Gamer

>>451

whatever weed the designers were on when they thought of that, I want some

454: Anonymous Gamer

summary of today’s bell

>melted on a beanbag (cute)  
>shopped for pistols  
>got hyper and started bouncing (cute)  
>came down from her gun high and got depressed (cute)  
>saw sinon and pouted (cute)  
>watched an impossible minigame being cleared and then went home

in conclusion: cute

455: Anonymous Gamer

oh ya that black haired girl doing the minigame was cute too

456: Anonymous Gamer

s tier waifu

457: Anonymous Gamer

but with A tier chest 

is cute tho, i’ll give you that

458: Anonymous Gamer

how come there are so many cute grills around bell? like sinon and the minigame girl

459: Anonymous Gamer

>>458

you say that as if bell isn’t a qt too

460: Anonymous Gamer

more like people around bell somehow just manage to get more rare avatars

461: Anonymous Gamer

so jelly i think i’m going to kill someone

462: Anonymous Gamer

then go kys

463: Anonymous Gamer

>>462

oof

464: Anonymous Gamer

btw pitohui wasn’t here today?

465: Anonymous Gamer

she only ever shows up on auction days

466: Anonymous Gamer

not really, she watches bell a lot. in fact I think she has perfect attendance to her streams

467: Anonymous Gamer

please forgive me bell for i have commited a cardinal sin

i have gone to watch kanzaki elsa’s late night live and broke my perfect stream attendance

468: Anonymous Gamer

>>467

death to the heretic

469: Anonymous Gamer

how dare you turn your back to our lady

470: Anonymous Gamer

pitchfork time

471: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah the live was today wasn’t it

472: Anonymous Gamer

is this the first time elsa’s done a late night live?

473: Anonymous Gamer

think so. I remember it only because the ticket lottery’s winning odds was crazy low 

474: Anonymous Gamer

>>467

well it’s kanzaki elsa, I guess I can give you a pass...

actually no

death to the heretic

475: Anonymous Gamer

>>474

lol still an inquisitor in the end

476: Anonymous Gamer

so next stream is going to be a dual bayonet stream right

wish she can have a revenge match with the pink devil with those guns

477: Anonymous Gamer

and maybe also try out that impossible minigame

478: Anonymous Gamer

bell can do it. I believe in her

479: Anonymous Gamer

>>478

alright now tell me what you’re actually thinking

480: Anonymous Gamer

>>479

I want to see bell gets so frustrated from losing she bawls her eyes out obviously, heheheh

481: Anonymous Gamer

lol

482: Anonymous Gamer

so I watched today’s stream and read the OP post, apparently bell’s a SAO survivor? I think she has a chance then

483: Anonymous Gamer

nah it’s not a guarantee, I mean there are all sorts of people among the survivors actually, so…

484: Anonymous Gamer

oh hey survivorfag is here

485: Anonymous Gamer

yo survivorfag what you got for us today


	3. Versus Pitohui/The Impossible Minigame

A bullet grazed my ear. Clouds of dust billowed at my feet, and gunshots speared the air. My fight-or-flight response was revving at full throttle.

But I was a professional. None of it could prevent me from doing my usual greetings.

“Hello everyone and welcome, I’m Bell, a GGO stream-AAH! Today we’re beginning-HOLY SHIT TOO CLOSE! From the-EEEAAAAH! The field-WAYAYAH!”

 _“hello”_ _  
_ _“heyooo”_ _  
_ _“hello”_ _  
_ _“first time viewer here”_ _  
_ _“is this even the time to be saying hello?!”_ _  
_ _“oh thank god I’m not the only one thinking that”_

“Hello first time viewer, welco-HMPH!!”

Before I could finish my words, a bullet line appeared right at my right shoulder, and I instantly threw myself to the left where the rain of bullets were at least less deadly.

 _Psht, psht,_ came the sounds of two bullets hitting me. The green HP bar in a corner of my vision went down about twenty percent.

“So anyway, we’ll be getting to the real meat of today’s stream after I deal with these riffraffs—whoaaah! Fuck that’s a lot more resistance than I was expe… wah?!”

“Mwahahaha!! Run, run, little one! Run if you want to live!”

 _“oh no…”_ _  
_ _“shiiiitttt”_ _  
_ _“fffffuuuuu”_ _  
_ _“goddammit pito”_

Looks like my audience had also managed to guess who was attacking me right now. 

I was currently the victim of the Minimi, an automatic weapon similar to the Minigun I encountered the other day. Despite lacking the devastating suppressive firepower of the Minigun, the current barrage was still more than deadly enough due to the bloodlust of its current wielder: a woman called Pito, full character name Pitohui. She was my best customer, always the one to pay the highest price for the guns (except pistols) I’d acquired through dungeon-delving and PK’ing on-stream with her real money.

What a _wonderful_ person.

“Hmm, tenacious, aren’t you,” she said, “Then how about _this_?”

“NO PITO NO, THAT’S NOT FUCKING FUNNY!”

 _“FFFFUUUU”_ _  
_ _“dreadful deeds done dirt cheap”_ _  
_ _“smol girl being pounded by a grenade launcher (colorized)”_ _  
_ _“the M79, a real classic”_

“Damn it, I can’t die here! I can’t die until I get a kill with this CZ 75!”

 _“tryhard”_ _  
_ _“do your best bell! entertain us!”_

“STOP ENJOYING MY SUFFERING!”

But both of us were the kind of GGO player that wouldn’t hesitate for a single moment to put a bullet between each other’s eyes the moment we meet in-game, no matter how good of a relationship we had in real life. My plan today had been to begin the stream right from the field, since I hadn’t wanted to waste time doing the usual greetings from my personal room. Just my luck that Pitohui’s squadron had found me.

She laughed and pulled the trigger. With a popping sound of bursting air, the M79, a grenade launcher made from the 1960s, spat out its load. 

The projectile drew a distinctly curved bullet prediction line in the air, an arc of terror from which I rolled away. I managed to avoid the direct hit, but the shockwave still lifted my small body off the ground and turned me into an easy target for a sniper in Pitohui’s squadron.

The bullet prediction lines mercilessly appearing right at my heart and head sent chills down my spine. Out of desperation, I twisted in mid-air and somehow managed to avoid being lethally wounded. I fired my CZ 75s back to where the lines came from just for the sake of it, but of course, a pistol could never hope to match the range of a sniper rifle.

“Urgh…”

“What, over already? Come on, I still wanna play! Hey! Hey hey hey!”

 _“eep”_ _  
_ _“so this is what true psychopaths look like…”_ _  
_ _“crime coefficient too high”_ _  
_ _“she’s going to get arrested one day”_

“GRAAAAAHH!!”

I shouted, pushing myself to the limits to dodge the enemy’s sniper shots — whose prediction lines had begun to disappear even when they were obviously not the first gunshot — by listening for their sounds and sensing their presences alone. My tension and my focus were brought to levels far beyond what they had been when I was in the castle of iron.

And then Pitohui suddenly started to run at me with nothing but her bare hands, a beaming, _psychotic_ smile on her face.

Holy shit that is goddamn scary.

 _“practically one step away from the amusphere’s lock mode”_ _  
_ _“jesus that smile will haunt my dreams”_ _  
_ _“can’t even laugh at this”_ _  
_ _“no, just no”_

“NNNHAAAAHH!!”

I had a feeling it had been a while since any legible human speech came out of my mouth. 

At any rate, the sniping had stopped due to Pitohui’s charge, so this was my chance. Even equipment loss was an acceptable risk to take. This was for the sake of my stream’s ratings. This was for the sake of attracting more viewers.

“SO DIE, PITOHUIIII!!!”

“Ahahahahah!!!”

 _“it’s like watching a shounen anime”_ _  
_ _“why the hell are they doing melee combat? isn’t this supposed to be GGO?”_ _  
_ _“alright bayonet quota done for today”_

I went on the offensive with the CZ 75’s mounted bayonet as my weapon, making full use of my in-game Martial Arts skill and my real-life close combat skills that I had refined during my days in the castle of iron.

After my last stream, I had used the Bayonet Crafting skill to create my own personalized pistol bayonet, a blade thirty-five centimeters long. It was now showing its worth, weaving a field of deadly slashes that permitted no intruders.

But it wasn’t enough against Pitohui. There wasn’t a hint of fear on her face; if anything, she actually looked _ecstatic_ as she stepped into my range, parrying my bayonet with the protective covering on her hands.

“Yes, yes, yessss! More! Show me everything you’ve got!!! KILL ME!”

“You damn madwoman!!!”

 _“jesus...”_ _  
_ _“fuck that’s the kind of skills you see in high-level ALO fights, not GGO”_ _  
_ _“possibility pitohui also a survivor”_ _  
_ _“too likely”_

One, two, then three swings with my full power, my torso twisting to get that extra bit of centrifugal force in, and I pushed Pitohui back. She lost her footing, and although it lasted only for a split second before she planted her legs down and stabilized herself, that single split second was enough for me.

“Got you!”

“Nooo!”

I forcefully swept her off her feet, my arms fully stretched in preparation for my next move, and she fell just as I wanted her to. I swung the pistol bayonet down at her neck—

“Just kidding.”

 _“eep”_ _  
_ _“eep”_ _  
_ _“eep”_ _  
_ _“run bell runnnnn!!”_

“Shit!”

—but a chill ran through my whole body. I immediately halted everything I was doing and tried to jump away.

Emphasis on _tried_.

“Tooooo slowwww!”

With a _thump_ , my body jerked in place. It felt like I was pinned down by something.

“Argh…” I groaned, “wha…?” 

A sensation that was a mix between numbness and pain at a 5:1 ratio came from my right shoulder. I turned to look at it, and I saw a rod of light going all the way through my avatar. The HP bar in a corner of my vision was dropping at an alarming rate.

“Bye bye!” Pitohui cheerfully said.

With no warning and no prediction line, a sniper shot flew cleanly through my head.

“Agh…”

My health bar instantly emptied. My vision began to turn grey. 

My thoughts were filled with nothing but curses for Pitohui as I experienced the distinct sensation of my body shattering into polygons.

●

“So anyway, Pitohui is banned from auctions for the time being.”

 _“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“take that you whale!”_ _  
_ _“lol personal grudge on full display”_

And so I had reappeared at my registered respawn point, my personal room. Luckily for me, I didn’t get hit by the weapon drop penalty this time. Both my CZ 75s were still with me. Using my Gunsmith skill, I dismantled the pistols that had had their durability reduced due to the intense battle for inspection and repair.

My eyes narrowed. It was time for my petty vengeance against Pitohui.

“Behold! A weapon yours truly had kept in reserve _just_ for occasions like this. An anti-materiel rifle rumored to number no more than ten within this server. The PTRD-41!”

 _“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”_ _  
_ _“lmao”_ _  
_ _“aah, the sweetest scream I’ve ever tasted”_ _  
_ _“hello yes one pito icecream please”_ _  
_ _“wtf the hecate wasn’t the only antimateriel rifle you have???”_

Ah, brings back memories. I’d gotten this anti-materiel rifle some time before the Metamaterial Mantle; it had dropped for me from a PK kill during an off-stream session. And just as I expected, Pitohui immediately flooded the chat with howls of despair.

Such delicious icecream—I mean, screaming.

“This… then this… and then this…”

A gleeful smirk was on my face as I opened up the auction application, yeeting Pitohui’s account name into the room’s blacklist, and announcing the room ID to my audience.

“There we go. Anyone buying the PTRD-41, put your hands~ in the air~”

 _“it’s mine!”_ _  
_ _“mine! mine! mine!”_ _  
_ _“aaahhh my finger, it’s pressing the ‘raise bid’ button on its own!”_ _  
_ _“BUT I WANT IT I WANT IT I HAVE THE MONEY WHY CAN’T I BID”_

“Mwahahaha! This is what you get for messing with my stream and my hobby! Take that!”

 _“cute”_ _  
_ _“cute”_ _  
_ _“smol girl gloating is my fetish”_ _  
_ _“FFFFFFUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK”_

In the end, it went to one of my viewers named Eva, who apparently wanted it to be a trump card for their squadron. Payment was in game credits instead of real money. The sale was made after a discussion with their teammates, and it had taken all of their savings, so I heard.

●

 _“I’m sorry”_ _  
_ _“wtf pitohui is actually apologizing?”_ _  
_ _“is it going to rain tomorrow? or a meteor shower?”_ _  
_ _“it’s a rain of bullets”_ _  
_ _“waiholdonnostop”_ _  
_ _“RIP”_

“...I’m not actually angry anymore, you know. I mean, GGO’s just that sort of game after all.”

 _“I’ve changed my ways. I’m a new woman now. Please take me off the blacklist.”_ _  
_ _“must have been torturous, seeing the PTRD-41 being sold right in front of your eyes”_ _  
_ _“if anything pito’s even looking kinda pitiable now”_ _  
_ _“wtf guys I just got killed here?!”_

“...I guess a part of it was my fault too, for going out in equipment that’s not for one-on-one PvP.”

 _“didn’t I just watch you going toe-to-toe with pitohui’s squadron with melee only?”_ _  
_ _“ssshhh don’t say that!”_

With a few button clicks, I removed Pitohui’s name off the blacklist. Maybe I’d gone overboard a bit today.

“Alright, you’re off the blacklist.”

 _“YAAAAAYYY!!!”_ _  
_ _“so kind”_

“And that’s it for today’s auctioning.”

 _“WHAT THE FUCK?!!”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“rofl pito not getting a single auction today”_ _  
_ _“and bell even picked today to sell a rare item to boot”_ _  
_ _“too bad so sad”_

Hey, I never said I’d continue selling after taking her off the blacklist.

I closed the auction application and pressed a few buttons in the streaming software to blacken the camera. I changed from the spartan and uncomfortable combat getup that I’d been wearing since I respawned into some loose loungewear.

In VR games in general and not just GGO, whenever you changed clothes, there was always a single moment when your avatar’s underwear were visible. It wasn’t particularly embarrassing for me since it wasn’t like I was actually flashing anything of my real self, but…

 _“hold on is this it is this it???”_ _  
_ _“it’s bell’s clothes changing time!!!”_ _  
_ _“I can see it… I swear I can see it!”_ _  
_ _“in your dreams”_ _  
_ _“yessssssss”_

See? The pervs among my audience would pop up, just like always. The day I let them see my avatar’s undies would surely be the day the chat turned into the second circle of hell.

The outfit I picked today was a product made by one of the few rare crafting squadrons that designed clothes for female avatars in GGO, a game reeking of gunpowder, oil, and manly sweat. 

The squadron’s members were actually all men, by the way.

“Alright, I’m done changing. You can look now.”

 _“ooooohhhh”_ _  
_ _“cute”_ _  
_ _“cute”_ _  
_ _“super cute”_ _  
_ _“that’s enough sugar intake for a month”_ _  
_ _“oversized sleeves is love, oversized sleeves is life”_ _  
_ _“i’m with you brah”_

The audience liked it too, it seemed. 

To fit with the current real-life season, I had picked a long, fluffy cable-knit dress. Also part of the reason was because it’s a pain to have to think about coordinating the top and bottom. I’d gotten far too used to VR games where outfits and accessories came in premade sets.

“Hmm, there’s nothing to do... I already tried out dual-wielding CZ 75s against Pitohui, doing it again feels kinda uninspired…”

 _“let’s do the impossible minigame”_ _  
_ _“nah I don’t mind watching you do it again :P”_ _  
_ _“you just want to watch bell fight in loungewear don’t you”_ _  
_ _“ofc”_ _  
_ _“hey hey do the minigame”_

“The minigame…? Oh, the one that girl did? Yeah that’s good, and I can do it in this getup too. Let’s go.”

●

And so I returned to the gun store where I had bought the CZ 75 SP-1 Tactical the other day. On the way, I got a few looks from the other players. There weren’t many people wearing clothes close to actual real-life fashion here in GGO where showing off your cool equipment was part of the fun, so I probably made for an curious sight.

I entered the shop and moved to the corner opposite the pistol area. The infamous minigame ‘Untouchable!!’ was there, a greedy beast that had devoured so many credits from its innumerable victims.

Last time, it had amassed an enormous pool of 300,000 credits, but now the arcade only held a meager 6,000. It probably came from some idiots who thought they had a chance after seeing that girl clearing the minigame, after seeing her _proved_ that the minigame was clearable.

“So I’d only get six thousand today, huh.”

 _“wow this little girl here actually believes she can do it”_ _  
_ _“great foreshadowing”_ _  
_ _“bell’s a master at using foreshadowing in her streams, didn’t you know that?”_

“You three motherfuckers better watch closely, you hear me?”

 _“yeah yeah do your best something something”_ _  
_ _“go win this I know you can do it *yawns*”_

That girl was probably one of the maniacs that had survived the deadly front lines for two years, and even she had had to gone all out just to clear this minigame. Normal players who had never have to fight for their lives wouldn’t even stand a chance.

Seeing that I was about to try it out, the nearby players stopped their window-shopping and gathered around the arcade. I ignored their jeerings and placed my right hand on the minigame’s start button to pay my fee.

●

“WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

 _“lol”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“lmao”_ _  
_ _“foreshadowing reclaimed so quickly no one but me could have expected it”_

“FUCKKKKKKK ONE MORE TIME!!!”

 _“aww shit”_ _  
_ _“oh no”_ _  
_ _“that’s an addict if I’ve ever seen one”_

●

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

 _“is this stream on loop?”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“lol”_ _  
_ _“this is no laughing matters”_ _  
_ _“bawling bell is best bell”_

“I’VE GONE TOO FAR TO STOP NOWWWW!!!”

 _“oh boy”_ _  
_ _“cute loli noises”_ _  
_ _“that’s already ten thousand creds down the drain”_

●

The metal gate opened with a _clang_. I instantly dropped forward into a run.

“...three, two, one, now.”

I made a single step to the right just as my countdown was over. A bullet line appeared where I used to be just a moment ago, and a gunshot followed.

“two, one… three, two one… one… two, one… hah!”

I restarted my count whenever there was a gun shot, and each time it got to one I leaned to the left, then the right, then right, then left. The bullets all missed, bouncing off the ground and vanishing into polygons.

 _“whoa…”_ _  
_ _“like watching a speedrun”_ _  
_ _“that’s actually amazing”_ _  
_ _“well it is the 36th try already”_

I got through the ten-meters line. Ignoring the short fanfare that blared out, I made a step to prepare for my next dash, but a surprise was waiting for me.

“Oh crap!”

I immediately dove forward. As I rolled on the ground, I looked upward to see six gunshots shaving through the air in a horizontal plane.

 _“holy shit”_ _  
_ _“that is literally impossible”_ _  
_ _“what the fuck is this gunslinger”_

“Wah, hmph, yah!”

All of my focus was on the gunslinger’s eyes that were whirling like some sort of demented eight-balls, and all my processing power was used to predict where he would shoot next. Bullets grazed me as I dodged the unreasonable barrage by the barest of margins.

Five meters left.

The moment I stepped on the line, the gunslinger promptly started reloading with inhuman speed and fired off six bullets in the same pattern as earlier. 

If I tried to dodge this by jumping or sliding below them, that would have been the end of my run. It took me fifteen retries to learned that.

The right answer was to roll forward.

“HMMMMPH!!”

 _“GOOOOOO!!!”_ _  
_ _“hype hype hype”_ _  
_ _“come on just a little bit more!”_

And once my feet were on the ground again after completing my roll, I leaped.

“YAAAAHH!”

 _“POGGERS”_ _  
_ _“you got thissssss!!!”_

And finally.

My hand touched the gunslinger.

“FUCK YESSSSSSS!!!”

 _“GGGGGG”_ _  
_ _“POG POG”_ _  
_ _“!hype”_ _  
_ _“YEAAAAAHHHH”_ _  
_ _“grats!”_ _  
_ _“congratulations”_  
_“grats”_ _  
_ “cuteeee”

The gunslinger went down on his knees and howled.

Total earnings today, 39,000 credits.

●

 **[Loli Streamer]** The Bell Thread, Part 6

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a loli VR streamer who’d popped up from out of nowhere. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there, haters. It’s not like there’s any decent one among you toxic cesspool anyway.

 **[Hater Thread]** absolute Bellend lolol →  Link 

…

…

…

893: Anonymous Gamer

awesome stream today

894: Anonymous Gamer

have a feeling I’ve been repeating myself a lot these days but yeah, it was fun

895: Anonymous Gamer

tearful bell is best bell

896: Anonymous Gamer

was hilarious seeing the panicking players trying to stop her crying

897: Anonymous Gamer

so anyway pitohui was fucking terrifying

898: Anonymous Gamer

who tf would laugh when they see a knife coming at them? absolutely crazy

899: Anonymous Gamer

was laughing my ass out when she wailed in chat after getting kicked out of the auction

900: Anonymous Gamer

>>899

she was damn near begging by the end there

901: Anonymous Gamer

>>899

btw bell having another anti materiel rifle was the biggest plot twist

902: Anonymous Gamer

>>901

yeah the PTRD-41 right? I think Eva got it?

903: Anonymous Gamer

who’s eva? a humanoid giant robot?

904: Anonymous Gamer

nah probably not the bible thing

905: Anonymous Gamer

eva’s a female player, if I remember correctly

906: Anonymous Gamer

srsly?

907: Anonymous Gamer

srsly?

908: Anonymous Gamer

srsly?

909: Anonymous Gamer

I can’t upload pics due to privacy, but she looks like a gorilla

910: Anonymous Gamer

nvm

911: Anonymous Gamer

nvm

912: Anonymous Gamer

nvm

913: Anonymous Gamer

>>910 >>911 >>912

lol incels

914: Anonymous Gamer

rofl

915: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah is she that drill instructor butch

916: Anonymous Gamer

yeah that’s her

917: Anonymous Gamer

hopefully pito doesn’t try to violate her

918: Anonymous Gamer

it’s probably fine

919: Anonymous Gamer

that ‘probably’ is exactly the problem though...

920: Anonymous Gamer

so anyway, loungewear bell managed to do the impossible

921: Anonymous Gamer

it took 36 tries in total

922: Anonymous Gamer

lol that’s almost all the money she had on hand at the time

923: Anonymous Gamer

you know who those “just one more time! just one more!” lines of hers remind me of?

gambling addicts

924: Anonymous Gamer

another one for my spank bank

925: Anonymous Gamer

>>924

reported

926: Anonymous Gamer

lol

927: Anonymous Gamer

it started looking like a speedrun by the end there. Actually impressive

928: Anonymous Gamer

well yeah, when you’ve done it 36 times...

929: Anonymous Gamer

and once she started to be able to reliably get through the 1k credits line, it actually got profitable

930: Anonymous Gamer

she spent more than that though

931: Anonymous Gamer

a quick calc shows she spent about 18000 credits. seriously wtf?

932: Anonymous Gamer

that’s about enough creds for a full ammo restock and maintenance package

933: Anonymous Gamer

who cares, we got to see bell throwing a tantrum and that’s all that matters

934: Anonymous Gamer

cutest creature I’ve ever seen

935: Anonymous Gamer

mad adorbs

936: Anonymous Gamer

literal moeblob

937: Anonymous Gamer

so anyway I guess you’d need that sort of inhuman reflexes to be able to clear that minigame?

938: Anonymous Gamer

>>937

maybe? but bell managed to do that after a lot of retries so maybe you don’t actually need inhuman reflexes

939: Anonymous Gamer

>>938

then what about that girl who did it in what was likely her first time?

940: Anonymous Gamer

she’s not human, that’s why. she probably has optic fiber for nerves

941: Anonymous Gamer

who wins: an NPC gunman programmed to reload and shoot at speed no humans can respond to

or

one cute grill who just started the game

942: Anonymous Gamer

SHE IS SPEED


	4. Mad Gunsmithing / Frenda - 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not really sure how to write Argo’s speech tics.

“It’s time for Bell’s Three Minutes Guncooking!”

_ “hello” _ _  
_ _ “hiii” _ _  
_ _ “wait what” _ _  
_ _ “hi” _ _  
_ _ “you cook what?” _ _  
_ _ “hype” _ _  
_ _ “newcomer here” _

“Hello new viewers. I’m Bell, a GGO streamer. And good morning to everyone. I’m sure you all just can’t wait to see what I’ll cook up today.”

_ “don’t you mean good evening” _ _  
_ _ “blah blah it’s day in GGO blah blah” _ _  
_ _ “should I be having a bad feeling about this?” _ _  
_ _ “you should” _

“I got something really interesting in the dungeon a while ago, so this stream’s for testing that out.”

It was another one of my GGO streams, just like usual. And like many of my previous streams, I’d started this one in my personal room. I was wearing a light combat getup instead of loungewear, so that I could immediately leave for the field once I was done with the Guncooking Corner, the centerpiece of today’s stream.

I headed for the workbench where I usually did the maintenance and crafting for my guns. As I made small talk with the viewers, I opened up the menu and materialized a single pistol and another item.

“First, I’m going to introduce the pistol we’re using for today’s dish.”

_ “aaah so that’s it” _ _  
_ _ “oh ic” _ _  
_ _ “I don’t see” _ _  
_ _ “don’t worry, neither do I” _ _  
_ _ “that the Colt Government?” _

“It is. The proper name is the Colt M1911. The embodiment of America’s love for large caliber.”

The moment the pistol appeared in my hand, it was recognized by some of the more knowledgable viewers among my audience. Colt M1911, a single-action semi-automatic pistol famous in Japan under the name ‘Colt Government’.

When the American army decided to use the new .45 ACP large-caliber handgun cartridge, the semi-automatic pistol made by Colt had been the gun to be chosen after going through multiple revisions and passing the army’s demanding tests with flying colors. The pistol had been a masterpiece that had stayed in service for about half a century, until it finally yielded the throne to the M9 pistol made by Beretta.

“The M1911A1 is popular in GGO too, yeah?”

_ “I love it” _ _  
_ _ “the pistol that started a century of tradition in gun design” _ _  
_ _ “I expect a lot of people would recognize the name Colt Government even if they don’t know what it is” _ _  
_ _ “would they really?” _

“Yes, they absolutely would,” I decisively declared. “So anyway, next is the seasoning.”

Then I placed the second materialized item on the workbench. Through the external streaming application, I moved the virtual camera and fixed it in place on top of the workbench. A stream of questions and recognition came from my viewers.

_ “what’s that?” _ _  
_ _ “ohh…” _ _  
_ _ “right right I get it” _ _  
_ _ “another frankenstein gun then” _ _  
_ _ “why don’t you just, you know, actually buy a rifle?” _

“You shut up. I’ve sworn my life to pistols and knives only. I will not be swayed.”

_ “you call that a pistol…?” _ _  
_ _ “now I’m not so sure what a pistol even is anymore” _

Rifles are heretical. A true lady should need nothing but her pistols and knives to bring her enemies under her heels.

The thing I set on the workbench looked like an empty shell of a gun in appearance, and its name was the Conversion Kit: HERA Arms Pistol Carbine CPE. Just as it said on the tin, it was a conversion kit to transform a pistol into a carbine.

I’d looted this thing in an underground dungeon before today’s stream. It was the Colt Pistol Extension version, which meant it worked with the M1911 pistol made by Colt’s Manufacturing. 

I had four of the gun. One for evangelizing, one for admiring, one for actual combat, and one in storage. Since the one in storage was just sitting there collecting dust, I thought I might as well let it be useful.

What? You say it’s not a pistol but a carbine? Goodness, surely you jest. It was born a 100% pure-bred true-blue pistol, and no matter how much it may change it would always be a pistol, never a carbine. Even the bible said so.

“And now, it’s cooking time.”

_ “ooohh” _ _  
_ _ “it’s got the same energy as building a gundam model” _ _  
_ _ “yeah, reminds me of the Full Armor whatsitsname” _ _  
_ _ “Unicorn!!!” _ _  
_ _ “you should paint it red, it’ll shoot three times faster“ _

“And it’s done!”

_ “I’m lovin’ it!” _ _  
_ _ “finger lickin’ good!” _ _  
_ _ “finally, some good fucking food” _ _  
_ _ “no lamb sauce though” _ _  
_ _ “lmao” _

The assembling process itself didn’t take long — it was only a matter of placing the gun into the chassis and fixing it in place with screws. The only part even remotely fiddly about it was changing the M1911’s stock grips.

Once the installation was done, I took the converted gun in my hand. Partially since it started its life as a pistol, even with all the added parts, it was still on the small side for a carbine—ahem, I mean, it was small for a gun-that’s-totally-not-a-carbine.

It didn’t have very good balance though, and was a bit unwieldy to swing around like I normally do to pistols.

But so what?

I just needed to make it wieldy.

“So, since this pistol isn’t very easy to use at the moment, I’m going to modify it further with the other accessories included in the kit. Like the picatinny rail and stuff.”

_ “pistol? you serious?” _ _  
_ _ “you call that a pistol?” _ _  
_ _ “what’s a pistol anyway” _ _  
_ _ “a question for the ages” _

The laser pointer came next, then the foregrip, and finally a collapsible stock taken from another gun entirely, an M4 that I’d disassembled.

...yeah alright it’s completely a carbine now. Oh well, the M1911’s still visible in the center, so there’s nothing wrong with calling it a pistol.

“And here’s the finished dish: a Colt M1911 HERA Arms Pistol Carbine!”

_ “we Dendrobium now?” _ _  
_ _ “sure it’s cool, but is it a pistol?” _ _  
_ _ “that is fucking awesome” _ _  
_ _ “smug bell is a cute” _

“I don’t care what you say, it’s a pistol.”

_ “sure it is” _ _  
_ _ “lol” _

I ignored the unappreciative audience and continued on to the side dish.

“And here’s another M1911, freshly picked from storage just this morning.”

_ “lolwut” _ _  
_ _ “again?!” _ _  
_ _ “you still have another one?” _ _  
_ _ “can’t wait to see what abomination you’ll make this time” _

“How rude, they’re not abominations. Anyway, this is the seasoning this time. Tadah! The Pachmayr Dominator!”

_ “do that tadah again please” _ _  
_ _ “super cute” _ _  
_ _ “is that fucking bolt-action???” _ _  
_ _ “a pistol that shoots rifle bullets? what sort of Contender is this?” _

It’s not a Contender, it’s a M1911.

I’d had this Conversion Kit: Pachmayr Dominator since a long time ago, but I never had the chance to use it on-stream. Today’s Guncooking Corner was the perfect occasion. 

This conversion kit turned the M1911 into a single-shot pistol. As the name implied, it removed the M1911’s semi-automatic firing capability, but in return it allowed the gun to fire rifle bullets, which in GGO had higher firepower.

Though to be honest, the real reason I wanted to use this was just because it’s hecka cool.

“We go like this… and this… and it’s done.”

_ “wow that’s fast” _ _  
_ _ “well it’s a virtual game, they simplified a lot of the process” _ _  
_ _ “whoever designed this conversion kit must have had a screw loose” _

Yeah, I admit it  _ does  _ look weird. It’s like somebody just jammed a pipe into the M1911’s barrel and called it a day.

“This is it. The solution to my longstanding problem of low pistol firepower.”

_ “blahblah told you to buy a rifle somethingsomething” _ _  
_ _ “why not just use a Contender?” _ _  
_ _ “you fool! the conversion is the whole point!” _

“That’s right, that’s right! You can’t find anything more manly than a converted pistol!”

_ “lol” _ _  
_ _ “bell are you sure you’re a girl and not a G.I.R.L?” _

“Hey, no real life talk!”

_ “cute” _ _  
_ _ “cute” _

Dammit. Fine, whatever. Playing with these babies take precedence.

“Right then, it’s time for a field test. I gotta let these bad girls out to play, so I’m not using the CZ 75s this time.”

_ “you just don’t want to risk losing your main squeeze” _ _  
_ _ “a model streamer who never shy away from pain” _ _  
_ _ “masochist?” _ _  
_ _ “reported” _ _  
_ _ “lol” _

●

I ran. I ran. Then I ran some more.

In front of me was a monster, a worm, wiggling and squirming across the ground in its desperate attempt to flee from me. It had deceptively high AGI, despite how it looked.

“You’re  _ dead meat _ .”

_ “eep” _ _  
_ _ “run away little wormy, run away” _ _  
_ _ “you can’t die here, what about your wormwife and wormchildren at home” _ _  
_ _ “jesus bell is looking like a literal serial killer there” _

_ Ratatatatah _ , went my HERA Arms-converted pistol, the bullets hitting the worm’s back. As it squirmed in pain, I unholstered the Dominator and fired at its weak point: the mouth. With a piteous shriek, the worm’s life ran out. Its body shattered into polygons, and a window appeared in my vision to declare the end of combat.

This turned out to be a pretty reliable tactic. Simple too. Just send off a barrage of shots from the HERA Arms to stall my target and then switch to the Dominator to hit the weak point. The worm was my fifth victory today using this method.

“Pistols truly are the king of all guns!”

_ “how many times do I have to tell you it’s a goddamn carbine???” _ _  
_ _ “it’s a pistol. how can it be not a pistol? all I see is a pistol” _ _  
_ _ “lol” _

The audience were debating the pistolness of the HERA Arms. Fools, all of them. It’s not even a matter of debate.

_ “ngl that does look like a strong tactic” _ _  
_ _ “requires a stupid amount of actual skill to use though” _ _  
_ _ “bell’s probably the only one who can make it work” _

“Whaaa? Come on, everyone can do this.”

_ “not me that’s for sure” _ _  
_ _ “nope” _ _  
_ _ “btw did you know? you and that one other girl are still the only people to have cleared that impossible minigame even until now” _

“You’re shitting me.”

What? No one else have beaten it?

Seriously?

“But you just need to go through it a few tim—”

_ “and I’m telling you it’s impossible” _ _  
_ _ “at the very least, it’s impossible for normal GGO players” _ _  
_ _ “I tried it out too, absolutely hopeless” _ _  
_ _ “oh hey survivorfag” _ _  
_ _ “wtf even survivorfag can’t get through?” _

“Really?!”

Unbelievable. 

Apparently no one else aside from me has cleared the minigame. Not even the guy who had graduated from the SAO school of hard knocks, wherein you either get good reflexes or you die.

“Why…?”

_ “gotta be avatar size right?” _ _  
_ _ “yeah probably” _ _  
_ _ “there’s just no space for GGO’s buff guy avatars to fit in” _ _  
_ _ “being able to move side to side is a huge advantage” _ _  
_ _ “also just raw player skill” _ _  
_ _ “what was it, prediction? us plebs can’t do that…” _ _  
_ _ “I can do prediction good enough but my current avatar size’s way too different from my previous one, can’t move, can’t even fit” _ _  
_ _ “lmao” _ _  
_ _ “RIP survivorfag” _

“Ohhh, I see…”

I genuinely thought everyone could do what I did, that they just needed to go through the minigame a few dozens of times to learn the patterns. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to have gotten this avatar.

That aside, I was quite curious who this survivor person was. He said he could do prediction good enough, but that’s not a skill you could learn if you didn’t have at least a certain amount of experience hunting out in the fields.

I wondered if he was one of the Clearers, too.

“...so if that game’s practically impossible for normal GGO players, then who the hell was that girl? She did it on her first try.”

_ “crazy isn’t it?” _ _  
_ _ “she’s monstrous, to put it simply” _ _  
_ _ “almost like the black swordsman” _ _  
_ _ “who’s that” _ _  
_ _ “the player who got us survivors out of SAO. people call him the black swordsman since he wears all black” _ _  
_ _ “‘I lurk in the dark, to serve the light,’ black swordsman, probably” _ _  
_ _ “lololol stop he doesn’t need to be any edgier” _

“The black swordsman, huh…”

I turned my eyes away from the buzzing chat. My thoughts brought me back to the only time I traded words with the black swordsman, Kirito...

_ “Stop it! That’s enough! They’re not resisting!” _ _  
_ _ “You're telling me to spare the lives of murderers? ...for what?” _

...the gloomy-looking effeminate young man who had gotten in my way during the raid on Laughing Coffin. I imagined him being the person behind that dainty girl avatar.

“Hah, no way.”

I couldn’t help but snort. That was just the most absurd idea ever. 

_ “saved” _ _  
_ _ “fukken saved” _ _  
_ _ “sprinkler-batman.gif” _ _  
_ _ “once more pls” _ _  
_ _ “I wish I can get a loli to sneer at me too” _ _  
_ _ “bell sure is harsh on the black swordsman” _ _  
_ _ “why can’t it be me” _

“Ah, my apologies. I forgot myself for a moment there.”

I got started on my way back to SBC Glocken in order to sort out my nearly-full inventory. The trip back home was spent dealing with the latent deviants among my audience that had popped up after my accidental remark.

●  


**[Probably A Survivor]** The Bell Thread, Part 7

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a loli VR streamer (and possible SAO survivor) who’d shown up with a bang. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there, haters. It’s not like the Geneva Convention applies to nonsapients anyway.

**[Hater Thread]** absolute Bellend lolol →  Link

…

…

…

24: Anonymous Gamer

wow we got to seven threads

also is it just me or is OP getting more and more extreme against haters?

25: Anonymous Gamer

>>24

you’re just imagining it

anyway we got a pretty normal stream today

26: Anonymous Gamer

... that’s normal?

27: Anonymous Gamer

>hunting worms with a  ~~ carbine ~~ frankenpistol

as a M1911 nerd I’m loving this episode

28: Anonymous Gamer

hope the Guncooking Corner returns in another stream. There’s nothing cooler than modding pistols.

...oh yeah, is that impossible minigame still uncleared? I thought it’s been quite a while since bell did it

29: Anonymous Gamer

nope, still no one even after two weeks. even survivorfag said he couldn’t

30: Anonymous Gamer

yeah that’s literally impossible. I lost 20000 already

31: Anonymous Gamer

ayyy survivorfag

32: Anonymous Gamer

lol seriously? 20k down the drain?

also about time you should get a tripcode already

33: Anonymous Survivor

>>32

I thought I already did

alright did that work?

34: Anonymous Gamer

yup that worked

right, so can somebody summarize why it’s so hard?

35: Anonymous Gamer

I’ll do it then

**A Monkey’s Guide to The Minigame’s Impossibruness**

  1. First off, the shooting is just plain fast. If you don’t react the very moment you see the prediction line, you’re out.
  2. Intervals between each shots are too damn short. If you dodge them one by one the way normal players do, you’re just going to stay in place and waste your stamina.
  3. The game area doesn’t have enough lateral space. It’s why you can’t dodge by running to the side like Bell did. You can only move two or three steps at most.
  4. Once you get through the eight meters line, the bullets pretty much doubles in speed and density. 
  5. Once you get through the ten meters line, you start getting six-shots barrages.



36: Anonymous Gamer

>>35

thanks

yeah that is totally impossibru

37: Anonymous Gamer

>>35

gj

yup when you summarize it like that it really does sound like a shit game

38: Anonymous Gamer

and  _ that’s  _ just the beginning, jesus

is there even any human aside from bell who can beat that game

39: Anonymous Gamer

what about that girl?

40: Anonymous Gamer

she doesn’t count as human. If we cut her up we’re probably going to see lines of code spilling out instead of blood

41: Anonymous Gamer

>>40

wow that escalated quickly

42: Anonymous Gamer

>>41

I mean, considering what she’d done I’m not surprised people would start doubting her humanity. I’m not really sure since I (and Bell) didn’t watch the girl very closely when she went through the last part with the six-laser-beams, but if she had dodged it the same way as Bell did, then that means she got past it  _ on her first try _ when Bell needed 17 retries to figure it out

43: Anonymous Gamer

>>38

true that. I guess bell got it because she actually has the skills. 

speaking of which @survivorfag do you know anyone in SAO who could be bell?

44: Anonymous Gamer

yeah I get that she has an advantage with her avatar, but I still can’t believe she won. who tf is even bell

45: Anonymous Survivor

sorry, was in the shitter

>>44

tbh I’m not sure. Bell is a really common player name, so…

and also talking about SAO is considered a bit of a taboo among survivors so I don’t really want to 

  
46: Anonymous Gamer

yeah I guess that’s a common enough name

47: Anonymous Gamer

>>45

ic, sorry for asking.

alright so change of topic, @survivorfag can you tell me about the weirdest player names you’ve seen until now pls?

48: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah, if you used a weird name you would have been stuck with it for a whole two years...

49: Anonymous Gamer

the GIRLs probably had it the hardest, since they would have gotten their avatars changed to actually look like irl themselves.

50: Anonymous Gamer

>tfw you see a neckbeard with the name Mika☆

jesus I’m going to have nightmares about this

51: Anonymous Gamer

speak for yourself

52: Anonymous Gamer

gayyyyyyyyyyy

53: Anonymous Survivor

there were actually quite a few GIRLs in SAO. besides it’s the internet, weird usernames are dime a dozens anyway

though for some reason all the Clearers had clean names, not sure why

>>47

if difficult-to-pronounce names count, then I remember someone from a long time ago when we were just clearing the first or second floor. The name was Nezha.

54: Anonymous Gamer

difficult to pronounce? so it’s not just nez-ha then? what is that anyway

55: Anonymous Gamer

it’s probably pronounced closer to nuh-tya. the name comes from that one chinese deity who has a ton of super OP equipment

56: Anonymous Gamer

what, like the sword of promised victory?

57: Anonymous Gamer

no not that one, nezha is a lancer

58: Anonymous Survivor

>>55

yup that’s right. 

so yeah, back then I suddenly got a request from an information dealer who said “You’re a mythology nerd right? Can you tell me how to read this player name?”

I still have no idea what that request was about even now. It was from before we cleared the second floor, so I guessed there was some sort of situation

59: Anonymous Gamer

wait survivorfag, so you weren’t in the clearing team for the second floor?

60: Anonymous Survivor

if I remember correctly, back then I was still busy leveling up on the first floor

and besides I ended up a crafter in the end anyway

61: Anonymous Gamer

huh, so SAO had information dealers? that really does sound like a fantasy world

62: Anonymous Survivor

>>61

yeah now that you mention it SAO was pretty much a fantasy isekai

I’m acquainted with one of those info dealers in real life. Maybe I’l try asking about bell

63: Anonymous Gamer

>>62

just don’t dig too deep survivorfag, in case Bell has things she want to keep a secret

64: Anonymous Gamer

she seems like such a lively little girl though, can’t imagine her having a tragic past

65: Anonymous Gamer

>>64

sometimes those are exactly the type that has a dark past. I mean, bell can make some really scary faces once in a while

66: Anonymous Gamer

>>64

and she seemed suspiciously harsh on the black swordsman in today’s stream too. Dark Bell is sounding all too possible

67: Anonymous Gamer

dark bell sounds like my jam

68: Anonymous Gamer

personally I’m thinking she was also a loli in SAO

69: Anonymous Gamer

can’t be

I mean, SAO revealed your real appearance, didn’t it?

70: Anonymous Gamer

>>69

DID I FUCKING STUTTER

71: Anonymous Gamer

it’s possible. she did say she’s short irl too

72: Anonymous Gamer

that doesn’t necessarily mean she’d look like a loli though

...please be a loli please be a loli please be a loli...

73: Anonymous Gamer

>>72

hey FBI there’s one over here

●  


_ “...hmm. So that’s why ya came to me?” _

“Yes. I understand I’m breaking the unwritten rules here. Just… consider it a personal interest.”

_ “I’ve stopped selling personal information, didn’ya know that?” _

“I do. I also know you’re still acting the part of an information dealer in ALO.”

_ “...to be honest, I don’t want to sell anything related to SAO again.” _

“Please, I need to know. I have to, in case it was her.”

_ “God, ya’d be a lot happier if ya just stop being such a busybody… fine, just this once, aight?” _

“...thank you.”

_ “Right… so while the name Bell’s all over the place even in SAO, frankly, there’s just one person that name reminds me of.” _

“...so it  _ is  _ her, then…”

_ “A player who, despite not being a Clearer, was considered to have contributed to the clearing of SAO through the most extreme of methods. The only player specializing in PKK, whose targets were those who had fallen so far they’d gone past being orange players and became red ones… _ _"_

_ "...she’d used the username ‘Frenda’. She had a younger sister who had died in that game, and if I remember right, the little sister’s username was ‘Bell’.” _


	5. Recollections / Another PK Stream / Frenda - 2

The castle of Aincrad, The stage for the world’s first full-immersion VRMMO, Sword Art Online. A mausoleum of iron that had entombed thousands, and until the end arrived, would continue to do so for many more.

The fortress lazily floating through the virtual sky was built from a hundred floors stacking on each other, each of them a vast realm in their own right. It was within a cave located in one of the middle floors, the forty-seventh, that a group of players had gathered.

They were criminals. Members of an orange guild named ‘Titan’s Hand’. People who had abandoned their rationality, who had chosen to prioritize their desires above all else once SAO stopped being a simple game and started being a matter of life-or-death.

And their desires proved to know no bounds. On a previous day, they had finally crossed the line and borrowed the claws of monsters to kill another party of players.

Now, they had a new target. A young girl who looked to be barely any older than the minimum age requirement for this game, who was unaware of the looming hand of the cruel titan.

“Tomorrow, Rosalia?”

“Yes, tomorrow. We’re going to take the Pneuma Flower from the brat and blacky… though I’m sure you all wouldn’t mind taking a bit of time to teach them a  _ lesson _ before we kill them, right?”

“Heheh, you sure a real piece of work, Rose.”

“Hah! As though anyone here is any better.”

Half of the guild members were already orange players, while the other half stayed green only because they’d been careful to commit their various crimes through methods undetected by the system.

They didn’t think what they did was wrong. Or perhaps more precisely put, they did not  _ want  _ to think they were wrong.

Those who abandoned their gifts of intelligence, of  _ thought _ , were nothing but beasts acting on their every impulses. They do not plan for the future. They do not learn from the past.

_ Would it not be better, then, if they could die as humans instead of wallowing as beasts? _

She moved, quickly and fiercely.

A surprised gurgle came from the orange guild member standing watch in front of the cave as his head parted from his torso. With the sound of shattering glass, his body scattered into polygons.

The last thing reflected in his eyes, seeing but not comprehending, was the bar of color that showed his remaining health as it rapidly emptied.

So ended the life of a human.

“...that’s one down.”

The whisper of a girl came from next to where the man had been, from a location that would have been a blind spot to anyone standing at the cave’s entrance. In her hand was a ring-shaped blade. More knowledgable players would have been able to recognize it as a weapon that required the Extra Skill: Chakram to utilize.

She returned the weapon to its holding place on her waist, the dark-colored robe she wore rippling with the movement of her hand. Another man was coming closer to check out the noise he had heard earlier. She silently dashed toward him.

“Hmm?” the man muttered in puzzlement, “heeey, where’d you—”

Before he could finish calling for the watchman who was no longer there, a blade came from outside his vision and pierced through his heart with unerring aim, obliterating his health bar.

“Two down.”

The relatively loud noise echoed through the cavern. A few dozens seconds later and someone would come to investigate, she expected.

But the girl showed no signs of tension. No anxiety, nor agitation at the fact that she had taken another’s life. She simply continued her preparation for the hunt with detached nonchalance.

All that was in her eyes was a cold gleam.

“Agh… gaah…”

“Five.”

They shattered.

“No! No, I don’t want to die!”

“Seven.”

...they shattered.

“Please! What do you want?! Items? Col?!”

“...eleven.”

...and they shattered.

Aaahh.

This must be what people have in mind when they imagine hell.

While Rosalia was still desperately forcing her paralyzed body to move, her eyes were tranquil as she watched the tragedy in front of her with calmness. With resignation.

Yet perhaps calling this a tragedy wasn’t quite right.

Perhaps the real tragedies had already been committed by their hands, time and time again.

The guild that had lured monsters towards other players, the guild that had watched and laughed as their victims sank in despair and crumbled into polygons in front of overwhelming force, was now facing a tragedy of their own making.

“Aaaahh… aah, haah, haaah…”

“Fourteen.”

And another shattered.

Rosalia turned her eyes toward the HP bar in a corner of her vision, where the dreaded icon for the Paralysis status effect and its remaining duration of effect were displayed.

Around two minutes left.

They’d already lost the moment they came to the cave entrance without taking a single precaution, believing that the cave was their safe haven. Unaware that their destination was littered with traps placed by the girl.

Hit by throwing knives that must have been coated in level-3 paralysis poison, members of the guild all helplessly dropped to the ground. One by one, they were visited by the girl and stabbed in the heart by her dagger. One by one, they disintegrated into polygonal shards.

Rosalia hyperventilated.

She was going to die. The imminent vision of death sent shivers through her body.

She would  _ die _ . She would die, and there was nothing she could do about it. She would die before returning to reality, before she could even return to her family…

“No… no, no no no no! I don’t want to die! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!!”

She screamed and struggled, her pride and shame long since forgotten.

Rosalia just wanted to live. Surviving was all that mattered. If she had to bare all her indignities to the reaper before her, if she could live by proving herself to be filth not even worth killing, then so be it. She was  _ not  _ going to die here.

“Don’t kill me!” she begged, “Please don’t kill me!!!” 

The girl in front of her clicked her tongue, then began to rummage in her inventory. For a moment, Rosalia thought her wish had been granted. 

There was hope yet. Maybe she would get teleported into the Black Iron Palace — she didn’t care. She was going to  _ live _ .

She glared a hole through the countdown for her paralysis.  _ Come on, faster, faster _ , she begged.  _ And then I can run, I can try to kill her, it just need to be ove— _

“Never mind. I’m still killing you.”

A heavy  _ clang _ followed the girl’s words, and ten percent of Rosalia’s health bar vanished. She screamed.

_ Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang _ . Rosalia turned to look. She saw spears going through her body, pinning her to the ground.

Her HP bar then began to drain gradually.

She knew this. She knew what was happening to her. It was the distinctive characteristic of any spear-type weapons: piercing damage-over-time.

“Goodbye,” the girl said.

Rosalia howled.

She was dying.

_ She was dying _ .

Despair, anguish, dread, nothing came close to describing what was going on within her at the moment as she felt her heart breaking into a million pieces.

But she still wasn’t about to give up. Through the numbing pain she continued her struggle, which only intensified once the paralysis wore off, her efforts undeterred even by the increased rate of drain on her HP.

Still, she struggled.

Still.

Still.

Until the last pixel of her life vanished.

A gasp, then a sound of breaking glass echoed in a cave now empty of people, save for one. The girl who still stood there, who had stayed and watched the woman’s miserable scramble until the very end.

“...fifteen. That’s all of them.”

She whispered, her voice, her eyes betraying no emotions, and she left the cave.

●

I fell out of my futon with a gasp.

Wiping away cold sweat, I curled up inside my own arms, trying to calm down my heavy breathing. A wave of nausea came, and I couldn’t hold on any longer.

I dragged myself to the toilet and threw up. Even when it felt like my stomach had already emptied itself of its contents, I still hurled. The regurgitated acid burned my throat, trapping me in a cycle of coughing and vomiting.

An undeterminate amount of time after, my nausea finally calmed down. Feeling sunlight on my skin, I looked up to see the setting sun shining through the bathroom window. 

It was nearly time for my usual routine.

I staggered toward the kitchen and poured myself a cup of water. The cool tap water was slightly painful as it went down my acid-burned esophagus, but I forced the coughing down and drank it all.

“I-I’m fine...”

I whispered in between heaving breaths, my hands rested on the sink.

“I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong with me.”

I just need to smile. Just smile and I’ll get through this. 

Smile, just as she had smiled for me even until the very end.

●

“Good morning everyone. My name is Bell, and welcome to my GGO stream.”

Another day, another stream.

_ “morning to you too (it’s night)” _ _  
_ _ “blahblah day in ggo blahblah” _ _  
_ _ “ello” _ _  
_ _ “mornight” _ _  
_ _ “godo mrnoign” _ _  
_ _ “are you having a stroke?” _ _  
_ _ “lol” _

I answered the viewers’ greetings and livened things up with some witty banter. No, I don’t care what you say. It is absolutely witty.

“So the thing is, I caught a cold.”

_ “whaaaaaat” _ _  
_ _ “you okay?” _ _  
_ _ “you look okay at least” _ _  
_ _ “bell the model streamer who wouldn’t let a piddly cold stop her streams” _ _  
_ _ “like I never said before, you should have taken better care of yourself” _

“So yeah, my throat feels terrible and it hurts to talk. Luckily talking in VR doesn’t hurt.”

_ “big brain idea: bell should stream longer” _ _  
_ _ “planet brain idea: bell should go wander the wasteland with only ONE pistol” _ _  
_ _ “galaxy brain idea: bell should go play with me, I’ve got candy” _ _  
_ _ “reported” _ _  
_ _ “lol” _ _  
_ _ “do you ever say anything else other than lol” _ _  
_ _ “lolmao” _ _  
_ _ “stop mixing the two together you idiot” _

The comments immediately began to scroll by at dizzying speed. It’s really nice to see how they care for me. Just don’t look at how half of the comments were actually utterly unrelated.

“Oh well, I’m already lying down in real life anyway, so this stream’s continuing.”

_ “wee” _ _  
_ _ “weee” _ _  
_ _ “yay” _

“I think I’m gonna go PK’ing today.”

_ “purge the unclean!” _ _  
_ _ “gonna be eldritch guns again anyway right” _ _  
_ _ “wow, never knew how much I loved seeing a smol girl cheerfully announcing she’s going to kill people” _

“The weapon I’m using today is the legendary blade passed down the Bell family line for generations: the CZ 75!”

_ “ooohh” _ _  
_ _ “ooh... wait something’s weird” _ _  
_ _ “legendary... blade???” _ _  
_ _ “where’d the bayonet go?” _

As I expected, the chat was full of questions once I pulled out the gun. Good, good. Just as planned.

“Just be patient, my dear viewers. You’re going to find out soon.”

_ “eep” _ _  
_ _ “my things just shriveled up in their sacks” _ _  
_ _ “reported” _ _  
_ _ “oh come on I didn’t even use the word balls!!” _ _  
_ _ “double reported” _

“Alright, time to go to my usual haunt. If I meet any of you on the field I’mma kill you, just so you know.”

_ “alright I’m going to take a look” _ _  
_ _ “RIP” _ _  
_ _ “yup he’s totally dead” _

Well then. Let’s see how many I can kill this time around.

●

Goddammit I’m so dead.

“Bellllllll!!!” “Bellllllll!!!” “Bellllllll!!!”

“Mwahahah! Hello Bell, my old friend! I’ve come to kill you once again!”

I ran, screaming. Behind me was a rabid mob composed of my viewers and led by a madwoman. A combination that never should have been.

_ “oh god” _ _  
_ _ “you better run for your life if you can, little girl” _ _  
_ _ “bell’s crying again and I’m lovin’ it” _ _  
_ _ “I got mood whiplash looking at the crying little girl in front and then the insanity behind” _

What fucking idiot would stream her own ambush spot?  _ This fucking idiot right here! _

A bullet hit the ground right next to my feet, spraying dust all over the place. Hearing the war cries of the perverts and the cackling of Pitohui, I shifted my gear up a notch to outrun the madness behind, my vision wet with tears.

Somebody save me.

“Ow! Motherfucker fucking  _ shot me _ ! In the shoulders! That’s it, you’re fucking  _ dead meat _ !”

_ “lol” _ _  
_ _ “huh, so she’s the foul-mouthed type of streamer?” _ _  
_ _ “yeah she curses all the time” _ _  
_ _ “I wouldn’t mind getting to hear more of her cussing, if you know what I mean” _ _  
_ _ “how’s bell gonna get out of this though” _

Unusually enough, Pitohui wasn’t bringing her no-prediction-line sniper guy with her today, so at least I got that going for me. I could focus all my attention to just running.

“Hyah!” I shouted, diving across the storm of bullet to reach the cover of a large boulder. Bullets shaved off a large amount of my HP but I was still alive, so  _ no problemo _ . I pulled out a first-aid kit and recovered my health back up a bit, just in case.

“And this is where I shall  _ kill them all _ .”

_ “blood for the blood god!!!” _ _  
_ _ “wow you actually have a plan?” _ _  
_ _ “it’s time for Bell’s Abominations Against Nature 2: Electric Boogaloo” _

I opened the map and looked for their locations, and... yup, they’re still far enough away. With the difference in stat points, I’d managed to create for myself ten seconds of prep time.

_ Let the hunt begin. _

“Tadah! The CSH CornerShot!”

I took out a gun from my inventory… though it was looking far too cute to be called a gun, really.

_ “eww” _ _  
_ _ “ooh I love that husky voice” _ _  
_ _ “cuteee” _ _  
_ _ “kitteh!” _ _  
_ _ “wow. that is a cat. that is absolutely a cat” _ _  
_ _ “hereeee kitty kitty” _

The CSH CornerShot was a weapon accessory made by CornerShot Holdings, LLC (or CSH for short, as mentioned in the item name), and its purpose was to allow the user to shoot around corners. _  
_ _  
_ The CornerShot resembled a rifle, and that was more than enough reason for me to dislike it on principle, but at its muzzle-equivalent there was actually a slot where I could mount a pistol on. Which meant the CornerShot was a pistol. Q.E.D.

The CornerShot’s trigger was linked to the pistol’s own, and its bent frame allowed you to deliver lead down a corner while you yourself stayed in cover. In layman’s terms, it was pretty much just a selfie stick for guns.

So yes, at first glance, the CornerShot guaranteed you a shooting experience safe from retaliation  _ in theory _ . But CSH didn’t stop with just making this weirdass accessory, oh no. They had designed and released an accessory  _ for  _ the accessory, a product that must have made people question the designers’ sanity when it was first announced. Its purpose was for camouflage, and I had installed it on the CZ 75-mounted-CornerShot that was in my hand at the moment.

It was called the ‘Kitty Option’.

It was a stuffed cat.

Yes. A stuffed cat.

What the hell were you thinking, Amos Golan?

For anyone curious, just go on YouTube and search for videos of it. There should be one where mister Amos, the creator, went on to describe the utility of the Kitty CornerShot with such a straight face that I wasn’t sure if I was meant to laugh or not.

So anyway, I bent the CornerShot and pointed the kitty head out from my cover, then pulled the trigger.

“Welcome to the litter box, motherfucker!”

_ “rofl” _ _  
_ _ “wait the cat’s head is right at the muzzle, that means… oh no” _ _  
_ _ “sshh don’t think about it, that way lies madness” _

In real life, the unfortunate cat would have had its cottony head blown out from the inside. Fortunately, this was a virtual reality game where equipment would show no sign of damage until their durability ran out.

And so, we were treated to the surreal sight of a cat summoning a stream of bullets from its face.

“A-alright, that’s one down! And one more…!”

_ “lol bell’s teeth clattering from the recoil” _ _  
_ _ “hard to keep it still when you’re not holding the gun down with both hands” _ _  
_ _ “looks fun though, and that’s all that matters” _

“Yesss! See this?! This is FELINE POWER!”

I downed two of my viewers with headshots, robbing some inertia from the approaching mob. Both of them were looking like they were high on catnip, so it was easy to pick them out.

Some of you might wonder how I was aiming around the corner without poking my head out. The answer was that the CornerShot had a camera installed at the pistol mount, which was connected to a LCD screen at the main frame body. I simply looked at it to get an idea of where to shoot.

Though considering I had to use a whole magazine just to kill two people, you can guess how well it worked. You really need a break, Amos…

“Right, so there’s only Pitohui and two other left now. I should be able to deal with them as long as I don’t face Pito head-on.”

_ “you sure about that?” _ __  
_ “famous last words” _ _  
_ __ “right I know how this stream ends now, gonna go to sleep”

Screw you all! Once I win I’m going to rub it in your faces  _ so much _ !

●

HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE THAT AMOUNT OF BULLETS?!!

●

**[Probably A Survivor]** The Bell Thread, Part 7

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a loli VR streamer (and possible SAO survivor) who’d shown up with a bang. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there, haters. It’s not like the Geneva Convention applies to nonsapients anyway.

**[Hater Thread]** absolute Bellend lolol →  Link

…

…

…

83: Anonymous Gamer

Bell the master entertainer

84: Anonymous Gamer

doesn’t even hesitate to set herself up as the punchline

85: Anonymous Gamer

and the best part is that the joke doesn’t drag on at all

86: Anonymous Gamer

just checked out clips of the cornershot thingy 

massive lol

87: Anonymous Gamer

lol

88: Anonymous Gamer

my sides to orbit

89: Anonymous Gamer

that looks really hard to use… well it  _ is,  _ really, since we’ve seen it in action

90: Anonymous Gamer

designer must have been smoking tea leaves

91: Anonymous Gamer

though when all’s said and done Bell’s actually pretty close to Pitohui isn’t she. Despite how murderous they are towards each other

92: Anonymous Gamer

that’s the charm of GGO

93: Anonymous Survivor

>>83

I’d nominate her for Comedian of the Year, really

94: Anonymous Gamer

survivorfag!!

95: Anonymous Gamer

>>93

yessss we’ve been waiting

96: Anonymous Gamer

THE LORD COMETH

97: Anonymous Gamer

Survivorfag knows the viewer’s will. Survivorfag is the viewer’s will. Survivorfag is the key and guardian of the viewer’s will. (Bell’s) past, present, future, all are known to Survivorfag. He comes. HE COMES!

98: Anonymous Gamer

>>97

begone foul thing, return to where thou came from

99: Anonymous Gamer

>>97

eldersign.png eldersign.png eldersign.png

100: Anonymous Gamer

>>98 >>99

lol instant exorcism

101: Anonymous Gamer

>>93

so? what did you find out about bell’s past? her time in SAO, I mean

but of course if it goes too much into her personal life then you don’t need to tell us

102: Anonymous Survivor

>>97

am I an outer god…?

>>101

tbh I still haven’t figured it all out. The information dealer also isn’t all that keen on selling SAO info, so

103: Anonymous Gamer

yeah that’s not surprising

104: Anonymous Gamer

nobody would want to remember being trapped for two years in a death game

105: Anonymous Gamer

also even if bell really is a survivor, there’s no guarantee she was also using the same username back then

106: Anonymous Gamer

really? the SAO guys in ALO still use their old usernames though

107: Anonymous Gamer

wasn’t that because ALO reuses SAO servers or something? also wasn’t there some news about some human experimentation going on in there?

108: Anonymous Gamer

>>107

holy shit that sounds terrifying

man VR games really are crazy

109: Anonymous Gamer

>>107

yeah, something about some SAO players being kidnapped

ALO really is popular though, it’s amazing how even after that happened the game still survives.

110: Anonymous Gamer

btw does Bell play ALO?

111: Anonymous Gamer

ooh she can be tinkerbell

112: Anonymous Gamer

I get you! just imagine tiny bell flying in the air wearing a more fantasy-looking getup awwyisssss

113: Anonymous Gamer

and then she gets stuck in a keyhole...

114: Anonymous Gamer

oh that’s even better

115: Anonymous Gamer

>>112 >>113

just gonna report you two real quick

116: Anonymous Gamer

lol

117: Anonymous Gamer

I’ll ask Bell about it in the next stream. Who knows, maybe she’d show us some actual SAO sword skills.

118: Anonymous Gamer

so how strong was she in SAO

119: Anonymous Survivor

pretty sure she’s no worse than the clearing players fighting at the frontline. She might not be as good as the black swordman, but she can probably join the top guilds like KoB or the Divine Dragons Alliance just fine

120: Anonymous Gamer

how’d you know that

121: Anonymous Survivor

I just look at her, I guess?

122: Anonymous Gamer

SAO survivors really are crazy. How do you even know how strong someone can be just by watching their movements? Are you a shounen manga character?

123: Anonymous Gamer

all because of that lunatic Kayaba Akihiko...

124: Anonymous Gamer

I think some of the worst affected by him were actually the people in the company he worked in, really

125: Anonymous Gamer

yah that’s true

126: Anonymous Gamer

could Bell have been an Argus employee?

127: Anonymous Gamer

that would make her a NEET at the moment...

128: Anonymous Gamer

no you fool she can’t be, she obviously has a job as a GGO pro gamer

129: Anonymous Gamer

do pros go leeroy jenkins with just pistols and knives???

130: Anonymous Gamer

guys what about the cornershot? guys?

131: Anonymous Gamer

it dropped in the end and got taken by Pitohui, so yeah...

132: Anonymous Gamer

sullen bell is cute too

●

Kirito first heard of the name ‘Frenda’ when he accepted a request from a man who had been the victim of an MPK attack. It was a request to pursue and apprehend Titan’s Hand, an orange guild whose base was on a lower floor. 

Kirito was one of the Clearers, a group of people bearing the heavy burden of conquering the labyrinthian castle of Aincard, knowing that every single passing day could be the final day of their lives. He had come to the Clearers’ forward base, the main settlement of the latest floor, and it had been in front of the teleportation gate of the settlement that he met the tearful man begging for anyone who would listen to take up his request, to bring justice to the criminals who had wronged him.

And the man’s words had stuck in the black swordsman’s mind ever since.

“Yes, it’s true they killed my friends,” the man said, “but even they are still players. They’re still  _ people _ . I don’t want to kill them, and I don’t want you to kill them. I don’t want any of us to become like them.”

After a moment’s delay, Kirito replied. “I understand. It’s why you’ve given me a corridor crystal, isn’t it? I’ve also prepared some high-level poisoned throwing knives as well.”

“No. No, Kirito, you don’t understand. The worst case scenario isn’t that you might accidentally kill them, nor is it them killing you. I know you’re not one to make that sort of mistake.”

“Well, yes… but then what  _ is  _ it? What’s the worst case you’re thinking of?”

The man hesitantly answered. “...it’s Frenda.”

“Frenda?”

“Frenda the Gravekeeper. A woman who had killed both orange players and red players. Anyone who had committed PK, no matter the means, would be her target. And I worry Titan’s Hand would be next. So please hurry.”

Hearing the man’s words, Kirito had made haste — or had at least  _ appeared  _ to make haste, as the requester was still nearby — but in truth, Kirito couldn’t help but feel like the man might have been exaggerating.

Titan’s Hand might have killed people, but that didn’t make them acceptable targets. Killing them would still make you a killer yourself. The black swordsman didn’t think anyone would go that far.

Besides, Kirito had also checked with Argo just in case. She had told him that the matter surrounding Titan’s Hand hadn’t even spread enough to become rumors.  _ In that case _ , the swordsman thought,  _ I should be able to send those Titan’s Hand guys into the Black Iron Palace before Frenda can reach them. _

Kirito thought he had time. It was why he had decided to take care of Silica, a girl he had met on a lower floor that reminded him of his sister, and also someone who had a connection to Titan’s Hand. He had also managed to make contact with Rosalia, leader of the guild itself, and he gave himself a pat on the back for that.

He had been much too conceited.

The very next day, Argo told him the guild Titan’s Hand had been slaughtered to the last man.


	6. Angsty Kirito / BoB Evaluation Meeting

“Do you not understand my question?”

“No, I don’t. What do you mean by ‘the real thing’?”

“That’s fine. But whether you’re a fake using his name or the real one… someday, I’ll kill you.”

The words were more than just roleplaying, Kirito was sure of it. The figure in the tattered cloak floated away without a sound, and moments later, the ghost vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared before him.

There wasn’t a single trace of the player who had been here just seconds ago.

Kirito staggered toward a nearby bench, barely staying on his feet, and he collapsed. He curled up, burying his face in his knees, his eyes shut tight. Burned into his retina was the sight of a small tattoo that the figure had shown to him for barely a second. 

A caricature of a western-styled coffin with a sneering smile on the lid. Coming from within the ajar coffin was an arm of white bone, beckoning.

The icon of Laughing Coffin. A red guild in SAO, a guild of murderers.

The moment he saw the tattoo, it was only a miracle that had kept Kirito from screaming, passing out, or being forcefully logged out by the VR device for anomalous brain activities.

\---

During the early days of the two years of SAO, orange players, criminals who stooped to stealing Cols or items from other players after their own funds ran out, had already existed. However, none of them had gone as far as to actually attack someone else and reduced their HP to zero. They only used paralysis poison at most.

In a way, it could be said that the players of the early days had lacked determination. They hadn’t been prepared. They hadn’t been ready to  _ kill _ .

That wasn’t to say that an unwillingness to kill was a bad thing, no. If anything, it was not the kind of determination that a player trying to clear this game should have.

But the unwritten rule of never reducing someone’s HP down to zero had been broken by a player named PoH.

It had been broken when he took the life of a single girl in front of a crowd of orange players. When he made a  _ display  _ out of it.

It was the new year’s eve of 2023. A small-scale guild had been having a picnic at a scenic spot out in the field when they were attacked by thirty orange players, among which was PoH. To make an example, PoH had taken the life of a girl after immobilizing her with paralysis poison.

Her username had been Bell. And she was the very first to have died by the hand of another player in SAO.

The sight of the murder had shattered the final mental limiter within the rest of the orange players. They then proceeded to kill all the other guild members there…

...except one person, the girl’s older sister, who had been left alive by nothing but their whims.

The next day, news of the formation of Laughing Coffin was sent to all the major information dealers within Aincrad. They announced themselves a red guild, a color unused within the game’s official classifications.

  
  
The player in grey that had made contact with Kirito wasn’t PoH, that much he was sure. The grey-cloaked player had talked with a choppy, emotionless voice, while PoH had been  _ fanatical _ with his machinegun-speech. The two couldn’t be more different.

But Kirito had a feeling there really had been someone who talked like that among the Laughing Coffin members. They must have already seen each other’s faces, have talked, and have even crossed swords at some point. Furthermore, the grey figure must have been a high-ranking member, rather than an uninitiated, tattooless member.

Kirito was able to guess that much, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn’t remember their face, nor their name.

...though in truth, he already knew the reason why. His traumatized mind was simply refusing to remember that terrible sight.

In the end, after lasting for eight months since its establishment on the New Year’s of 2024, the guild Laughing Coffin terminated on a summer night. It hadn’t been a spontaneous dissolvement, nor had it come about due to internal conflict; the guild had been put to the sword by a subjugation team formed from fifty members of the Clearers fighting at the front line.

The raid would have happened much earlier, if not for Laughing Coffin’s hideout being much too well-hidden. Even with the skills of the Clearers, efforts into discovering the guild’s base had been slow going. In the end, it was only with an anonymous tip, likely coming from a Coffin guild member who had been unable to bear the guilt of their killing, that the hideout was found.

Scouts had been deployed who had then confirmed the information, which led to the creation of a subjugation party. Kirito had been a solo player at the time, and he had also accepted the invitation.

The raid commenced at three in the morning.

By expectations, the party was vastly superior to Laughing Coffin both in player number and average levels. They blockaded the entrance and exit to the guild’s lair, which were safe zones, and everyone thought that was enough for the guild to surrender, that the raid would end without bloodshed.

Everyone, except one person. Frenda the Gravekeeper.

While Kirito only knew of the name at the time, having never met the girl himself, he  _ had  _ had glimpses into her ruthlessness from secondhand accounts of her involvement in the matter of the guild Titan’s Hand. As a scrupulous executioner of criminal and killer guilds who made no distinction between green and orange players, her presence in this raid had been a matter of course. It was her who had vehemently insisted that Laughing Coffin would never surrender.

Her claim was disregarded, partially due to the party’s apprehension toward the person they considered to be almost a red player herself. She responded with a much-too-dark glare, but unnerved by her gaze as the party had been, the raid began all the same.

And only then did they realize that she, a player who had faced killers time and time again, had been  _ right _ , and that they had been far too naive. Too  _ complacent _ .

What awaited the subjugation party when they entered the dungeon was an ambush by Laughing Coffin, presumably based on an information leak that the guild had somehow acquired. Faced with traps, poison, and all the preparations that the killer guild had brought to bear, the party momentarily descended into chaos, but they soon reorganized themselves and entered combat.

But there was a decisive difference between Laughing Coffin and the subjugation party. The willingness to kill.

Driven by their mania, members of Laughing Coffin fought on, heedless of their own diminishing health bar. The realization that their opponents would never surrender had been a shock to the subjugation party.

They’d thought of the possibility, certainly. Yet once it truly happened, once they saw their opponent with a health bar colored red in front of them, they could not help but hesitate in landing the final blow.

The only exception was the Gravekeeper.

A player within the subjugation party had abandoned their sword and curled up on the ground. Sensing easy prey, several members of the killer guild surged toward their target, only to find that their heads had parted from their bodies before they knew it. 

The sight sent everyone, both the subjugation party and Laughing Coffin, into shocked stillness.

Shortly after, the majority of the Coffin guildmembers who had had their health bar in the red shattered into polygons. It had been only a few seconds. The damage effect had appeared right at their hearts, a strike made to kill even if their health had not been in the red zone. 

As the Gravekeeper was released from what must have been the post-motion of a weapon-throwing sword skill, she moved to the party member that had collapsed on the floor and poured a healing potion on them, her expression blank of any emotion. She then unsheathed a dagger and swung it at the Coffin guild member that had been creeping up from behind her, the blade piercing directly through the heart with impeccable accuracy.

From then on, she was unstoppable. It hadn’t been because she was the best; the Clearers in the subjugation party were more skilled than her, and it was likely some among the Laughing Coffin were no less capable.

It had been because they didn’t have her zeal. They didn’t have her bloodlust.

Once a member of the subjugation party reduced enough of a Coffin member’s HP bar to subdue them, she would appear without a moment’s delay to finish them off. More and more of the party grew unwilling to fight, terrified by the thought that they would be lending a hand to the death of a person even when the Gravekeeper was the one to deal the final blow.

What followed was a demonstration of  _ efficiency _ as she made short work of the guild, displaying skills no young girl such as her should ever possess.

The battle was over, and it was time to count casualties. Two deaths had come from the subjugation party, who had died during the ambush at the very beginning. 

Meanwhile, the guild Laughing Coffin had lost  _ twenty-seven _ . All of them had been dealt the killing blow by the hand of the Gravekeeper.

Faced with the unrelenting force of nature that was the Gravekeeper, the remaining guild members had dropped to the floor, all thoughts of resistance abandoned — but the girl approached them, ready to kill all the same. 

At that moment, Kirito could not see the guild members trembling in fear as anything other than victims. He immediately dashed forward to stop her without a moment’s thought, his favored Elucidator rising to block the swing of her dagger.

“Stop it! That’s enough! They’re not resisting!” he shouted. 

And she turned to look, seemingly acknowledging the existence of someone else other than her within the subjugation party for the first time.

“What, are you telling me to spare the lives of murderers?” she asked, sounding  _ genuinely  _ puzzled, “...for what?”

Hearing her words, for the first time in his life, Kirito truly felt  _ terror  _ toward another human being. 

Terror upon the realization of how far a person willingly going off the deep end can fall.

“They don’t want to die! Killing them would just makes you a red player, you have to know that!”

“...so what?”

Words failed him.

“I’ve been a red player since the beginning. It just so happens that I target other red players, that’s all.”

It was the moment Kirito realized their irreconciliable differences. 

He gave up on convincing her with words, instead trying to subdue her with as much force as he could without harming her. The Gravekeeper only gave a token resistance as her blank eyes scanned over the surviving Laughing Coffin guild members who were being sent to the Black Iron Palace.

“...not here…” she whispered.

\---

If the figure in the grey cloak had been one of the six Laughing Coffin guild members who had survived and subsequently been sent to the Black Iron Palace due to Kirito’s intervention, then he must have talked with them at some point during the cleanup after the battle. The only thing he could remember about them was their way of speech — not their face, nor their name. The memory of the raid had been forcefully suppressed by his own mind.

_ Who was it _ , he desperately tried to recall,  _ who was it?! That grey cloak must have been one of the surviving six. I should know all their names! _

Through the throbbing pain, he dug deep inside his buried memories…

...and he realized a possibility that he should have thought of a long time ago. He gasped.

Kirito thought of the raspy, mechanical voice that the figure in the grey cloak had used to speak in barely a whisper. He imagined how it could sound like as a shout. 

And in his mind, the howl that he’d heard from an audio file a week ago returned.

_ “This is true power! True strength! Fools, remember this name, and fear it!” _

_ “The name this gun and I share! Death Gun!” _

It was the same. He was sure of it. The tone was near identical.

If that grey cloak had truly been Death Gun, then that meant Kirito had successfully made himself known in GGO and attracted Death Gun’s attention. It was one more step closer to the completion of his mission.

But he never thought this would happen. He never expected that Death Gun was an SAO survivor, even a former member of the killer guild Laughing Coffin.

_ “Are you telling me to spare the lives of murderers? For what?” _

Memories of the words resurged, and he slammed his hand down on the seat. He felt the eyes of nearby players on him, but they were the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

If Death Gun had come from SAO…

“...then had she been  _ right _ ? Should we have…”

_ Killed them all? _

The words choked in his throat and evaporated before they could be spoken. But the possibility had already crept in, a heavy weight sitting in his heart.

\---

“First BoB what-did-I-do-wrong meeting. Yayyy…”

I sank into the bean bag, squeezing out whatever was left of my energy to do my usual greetings. Though wrapped within the comforting embrace of the Slothinator, my mood was as gloomy as the weather outside. So dark. So rainy.

_ “yay…” _ _   
_ _ “yayy…” _ _   
_ _ “hello” _ _   
_ _ “come on cheer up” _ _   
_ _ “go watch some cat videos or something” _

“Hi everyone… it’s me, Bell, the worst GGO streamer ever… I’m sorry for ever playing this game…”

_ “aww don’t cry” _ _   
_ _ “just laugh it off” _ _   
_ _ “there’s always next time” _ _   
_ _ “don’t be sad” _ _   
_ _ “yeah these things happen once in a while” _

I had listened to my viewers’ suggestion and joined the 4th Bullet of Bullets with the CZ 75 SP-1 Tactical, my new favorite partner. I had prayed for my opponent to be anything but a shotgunner, and as it turned out, my first match had been with someone with the username Subtilizer, a male player. Which wasn’t surprising, really; in a game that reeked so much of oil and gunpowder, female players were the minority.

And then I found out that to my surprise, Subtilizer was a fellow pistol-and-knives only player. I was jumping for joy knowing that there was someone else who shared my interest. This match would be a great opportunity to see who was the better pistoleer, I had thought.

I don’t mean to brag here, but I’m quite sure I’m one of the better GGO players. And after so many times fighting the insane berserker that was Pitohui, my reflexes had been trained enough for me to be able to deal with most surprise attacks and inhumane tactics.

But in the end, I’d lost. In just  _ seconds _ .

I couldn’t hold back a sniffle.

_ “cu-I mean, cheer up!” _ _   
_ _ “cu-I mean, no need to be so down!” _ _   
_ _ “cu-I mean, there’s always next time!” _ _   
_ _ “cuteeeee” _ _   
_ _ “you shut the fuck up” _ _   
_ _ “oof that’s harsh” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “there’s the lolfag we all know and love” _

The match itself had lasted for about a minute and a half, but the fight didn’t even take ten seconds. Subtilizer had snuck up behind me and killed me in a single hit with a stab to the heart.

It hadn’t even been a fight, really. Just a one-sided slaughter.

“I’m not losing next time!”

_ “that’s the spirit!” _ _   
_ _ “atta boy!” _ _   
_ _ “hey just because she’s flat doesn’t mean she’s not a girl!” _

But, well, no use staying depressed, and it wasn’t like I should be letting my viewers worry for me so. It’s about time I get back on my feet.

“So this time, I’m going to get a little bit more serious!”

_ “wait weren’t you supposed to be reflecting on what you did wrong?” _ _   
_ _ “shhhh quiet” _ _   
_ _ “well positive thinking  _ is  _ important” _ _   
_ _ “which means you’re not using a frankenpistol this time?” _

“Indeed! I’m letting the CZ 75 have a break this time though. Might be nice to do a  _ real  _ shootout once in a while.”

_ “a real shootout…?” _ _   
_ _ “with pistols?” _ _   
_ _ “what are you saying, PiStOlS aRe PeRfEcTly GoOd GuNs” _ _   
_ _ “hype” _

Shrugging off the temptation of the beanbag, I jumped up on my feet, clicking through the menu screen to materialize a single pistol.

“This is the gun I’m using today: the Walther P99!”

_ “ooh” _ _   
_ _ “very normal” _ _   
_ _ “don’t be fooled! there’s got to be something eldritch about this one!” _

“No there isn’t.”

_ “impossible!” _

The P99 I took out was a semi-automatic pistol made by Walther, a German arms manufacturer. It was my favorite right after the CZ 75.

A compact pistol, it had an ergonomic grip that could fit in hands of all sizes through the use of backstraps. Distinctively, it had an ambidextrous magazine release, allowing left-handed users to use the gun with no modification. The release was built into the underside of the trigger guard, which was convenient for me since my avatar had small hands. And in fact, this was the very first gun I bought when I started this game.

Aah, memories.

“This is actually the first gun I bought, you know.”

_ “Bell’s first…?” _ _   
_ _ “yiss” _ _   
_ _ “yiss” _ _   
_ _ “yissss” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “come on lolfag speak already” _

“It fits just right in my hand, you see? Been my primary weapon from before I started streaming.”

_ “are pistols primary weapons…?” _ _   
_ _ “of course they are. what? no I’m totally not brainwashed what are you talking about” _ _   
_ _ “well I guess if you think it’s a primary weapon then it’s a primary weapon...” _

And so I departed for the desert map with the P99 in hand. The rain had turned the field into a sludgy mess that caught my feet with every step, but I still managed to bag a few monster kills. This gun didn’t have a bayonet (obviously), so in melee range I used my darling knife USSR NRS.

A worm leapt out from the ground, its gullet aiming for my abdomen. I peppered its wide-open mouth with bullets and rolled to the side to dodge its charge. The damage to its weak spot caused it to writhe in pain, and I took the opportunity to rip its hide apart with my knife. As blood-red damage effect spurted out, it cried its last and shattered into polygons.

“Phew, that’s the third one.”

_ “gj” _ _   
_ _ “all jokes aside Bell is actually good isn’t she…” _ _   
_ _ “and then there’s Subtilizer who killed her in seconds. who the hell is he” _ _   
_ _ “bell the world-famous wormhunter” _

I switched out the nearly-empty P99’s magazine for a new one, my eyes watchful for any monster or player that might be lurking nearby, but the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see.

Hmm, what to do… there’s still quite a bit of time left before the stream’s planned end. Hopefully I could do one or two more monster kills or PKs…

“Whoa?!”

...but while I was thinking, the ground suddenly started shaking. With a heavy  _ whoomp _ , the sand sank, creating a bowl-shaped depression. Before my thoughts could even catch up to what was going on, from the center of the depression bursted out an enormous maw. The air felt oppressive just by its presence alone.

“Crap.”

_ “oh hey a field boss” _ _   
_ _ “oh boy” _ _   
_ _ “Have no fear, Bell!! Step forward! Win, and you shall surely be rewarded with a rare item! Next episode, ‘Bell Fucking Dies!’ It’s time to dueeelllllll!!!” _ _   
_ _ “oh she dies?” _

“Noooo I don’t wanna dieeee!!!”

Bullet lines appeared not a moment later, in such number as to cover my body whole. A closer look revealed two gatling guns inside the giant worm’s jaw that practically filled up its whole mouth.

I couldn’t help but scream as I tumbled in the bowl-shaped depression, my feet finding no grip on the shifting ground, the virtual-but-no-less-annoying sand coating me. A second later, a storm of lead melted through the ground where I used to be like butter.

“Awww crap I’m so dead.”

_ “NEVER GIVE UP” _ _   
_ _ “Never give us up, Bell! Never let us down, Bell!!” _ _   
_ _ “oh a sarlacc boss. looks dangerous but eh, I’m sure you can handle it” _

“You guys make it sound so easy!”

The sight of the ground being torn apart and the resulting dusty cloud sent chills down my spine. I tried to escape the bowl and get some distance between me and the boss, but the loose sand didn’t make it easy, and every time I was forced to dodge the bullet lines lighting me up I just ended up falling back down again. I barely made any progress.

I turned around and fired a few shots from my P99 at the gigantic worm, but its health bar didn’t seem to drop even a pixel. So yeah, that was that.

“Anyway gotta get out fir-OUCH?!”

One of the bullets finally hit me, shaving a chunk out of my HP bar and turning it orange. 

_ “crap” _ _   
_ _ “damn that gotta hurt” _ _   
_ _ “holy shit look at that damage” _ _   
_ _ “better start retreating, Bell” _

“Oh I would if I  _ could _ !!!”

I immediately popped open a potion, my teeth grinding in frustration at this  _ impossible _ situation. As it was, I was helpless. Something had to change.

The damage I received was reduced somewhat thanks to my armor, but I wouldn’t last even just a few more hits. There was the problem of the armor’s durability itself, too.

“Not enough damage? Fine then, how about this?!”

Sorry, P99, but you just don’t have the power to punch through this thing’s armor. So I returned it into my inventory and took out the most powerful among the pistols I’d taken with me.

_ “there it is!” _ _   
_ _ “Arnie’s favorite!” _ _   
_ _ “yeaaah the magnum’s hereeee” _

The IMI Desert Eagle.

If America’s love for big caliber had started with the Colt M1911, then the culmination of that love would be the Desert Eagle, a pistol that made use of the ridiculous .50AE 12.7mm cartridge. Just as its beefy appearance suggested, it was an incredibly stable gun, but with a recoil to match.

The .50AE was an uncommon type of cartridge, used only by the Desert Eagle and a few other magnum guns. It made it expensive, and it was why I actually didn’t want to use such guns too often.

I mean, if I spend too much in-game then I’m not going to have enough money for real-life living, so…

“Die!”

With the gun’s size and my own lack of stat points, I had to hold it with both hands. I fired, and the gloomy desert lit up with a muzzle flash that could come from no normal pistol. My arms jerked back from the massive recoil.

_ “holy shit that muzzle flash” _ _   
_ _ “this thing’s gonna make huge holes” _

A lot of people have misunderstandings about this, but shooting magnum guns don’t actually dislocate your shoulders just because you’re a fragile little girl. It’s a matter of posture. Even grizzly men full of muscle could get their shoulders dislocated just the same if they get it wrong.

The bullet hit with the power of one of the strongest pistols in its category in GGO. It didn’t do all that much damage relative to the boss’ total amount of health, but it was still so, so much better than the P99 I used before.

“Yes, it’s working! Here’s my chance…”

_ “that’s the deagle alright” _ _   
_ _ “can you normally win boss fights with just pistols…?” _ _   
_ _ “who do you think she is, you fool?! This is The Bell!” _

Apparently I hit its weak point, as the boss had stopped moving. I took the opportunity to escape from the sand bowl and got to a (relatively) safe zone, then opened fire.

“GGRAAAARGHH!!!”

_ “channeling the power of Arnie” _ _   
_ _ “I’ll be back!!” _ _   
_ _ “amazing how she can shoot with all that recoil” _

I fired all nine bullets in the magazine, reloaded, fired, reloaded, rinse and repeat. I had ten magazines of .50AE ammo with me. I  _ could _ deal damage with other pistols too, but none of them could do as well as the Desert Eagle. I’d run out of time.

And finally, all ten magazines were emptied.

“...tsk! Out of ammo!”

I put away the gun. All the bullets I’d emptied into the boss’ jaw, where it connected to the rest of its body, had taken its health to 50%. But now I don’t have any other pistol that can do the job.

Do I retreat here?

_ “retreat?” _ _   
_ _ “no retreat! no surrender!” _ _   
_ _ “trust in your partner, Bell!” _ _   
_ _ “bet everything you’ve got!” _

“Y-yeaaahh! Let’s do this!”

I considered the thought for a moment since it was already about time I should end the stream, but my viewers apparently thought otherwise. And so I decided to go for a gamble of a lifetime.

I broke into a run at full speed, dodging the worm’s hail of bullets, my fingers moving with incredible accuracy as I opened up my inventory and brought out the legendary sword, the CZ 75 SP-1 Tactical. I equipped two of them in both hands and dashed toward the center of the basin, where the boss was. I placed my foot on the basin’s edge and with all of my AGI, I leapt.

“I BELIEVE I CAN FLYYYYYY!!!”

_ “wut” _ _   
_ _ “what” _ _   
_ _ “wat” _ _   
_ _ “oh boy…” _ _   
_ _ “doesn’t look promising…” _

The sinking ground didn’t help, but my speed and angle was still good enough to bring me to the boss. The chat was despondent as they witnessed me flying helplessly in the air. But I’m not done yet!

“Grenade timeeeee!!!”

_ “huh you had nades?” _ _   
_ _ “ooh” _ _   
_ _ “oooooohh” _ _   
_ _ “now this looks promising” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

The moment I jumped, I took out a large-sized plasma grenade, also called the Ion Grenade, that I’d been keeping in my inventory as a good luck charm and lobbed it at the boss. It flew, drawing an arc toward the muzzle of the worm’s gattling gun. Just as I wanted.

The boss opened fire, triggering the grenade and releasing an explosion of plasma fire that had enough power to vaporize a whole team of players if it happened in the center of their formation. A few bullets hit me while the chain of explosions were still going on, but the damage to my health was not yet a concern.

“YESSS!!”

_ “phe-yew” _ _   
_ _ “so fucking cool” _ _   
_ _ “now that’s some fithy fireworks” _ _   
_ _ “wait but the damage…” _

The boss’ HP went down to 10%. I’d hoped that the grenade could take off the whole 50%, though. Oh well, such is life.

I readied my CZ 75s...

“Dieeee, you Sarlacc reject! Gimme rare pistols!!”

...and thrusted it through the worm’s recently-melted armor.   
  
  


\---

**[Probably A Survivor]** The Bell Thread, Part 7

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a loli VR streamer (and possible SAO survivor) who’d shown up with a bang. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there, haters. It’s not like the Geneva Convention applies to nonsapients anyway.

**[Hater Thread]** absolute Bellend lolol →  Link

…

…

…

780: Anonymous Gamer

And furthermore, the defendant has stated, “But I wanted the Desert Eagle...”

781: Anonymous Gamer

I see. No room for clemency, then.

What do you think, Your Honor?

782: Anonymous Gamer

>>781

I judge that the defendant, Pitohui, shall be barred from Bell’s auction for the duration of one month.

783: Anonymous Gamer

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

784: Anonymous Gamer

>>783

totally your fault this time

785: Anonymous Gamer

>>783

and what if Bell cry so much she doesn’t stream tomorrow, huh? how will you compensate us for that?

786: Anonymous Gamer

yeah she was literally bawling there

787: Anonymous Gamer

bawling Bell was perfect qt3.14

right?

right?

788: Anonymous Gamer

>>787

she was but honestly I just feel sorry for her

789: Anonymous Gamer

so how does it feel, murdering a little girl right when she was jumping for joy after killing a field boss?

790: Anonymous Gamer

>>789

no no no I mean look she dodged the first sniper shot didn’t she?!

she was making some serious superhuman moves then

how do you expect me to NOT go all out on her??!

791: Anonymous Gamer

>>790

this is the one time I can’t defend you, for real

and the worst thing is that out of all the things she could have dropped, it was the CZ 75

792: Anonymous Gamer

oh boy

look Pitohui

Bell’s stopped tweeting

793: Anonymous Gamer

IT’S MY FAULT?!

...okay yeah it’s my fault

794: Anonymous Gamer

just go apologize already

795: Anonymous Gamer

also why don’t you set up a tripcode too pito?

796: Anonymous Gamer

remember to return the CZ 75 when you apologize, alright? also give her a pistol she probably doesn’t have yet

797: Anonymous Gamer

>>795

no thanks, sounds like a pain in the butt

>>796

hmm… she pretty much has everything already anyway… you think she’d like a lightsaber?

798: Anonymous Gamer

>>797

u srs?

799: Anonymous Gamer

>>797

u srs?

800: Anonymous Gamer

>>797

ussr?

801: Anonymous Gamer

glory to the motherland

802: Anonymous Gamer

>>797

does she have the midichlorians to use it?

803: Anonymous Gamer

use the Force, Bell...

804: Anonymous Gamer

lol

805: Anonymous Gamer

>>804

here we see a lolfag in his natural environment

806: Anonymous Gamer

set up a tripcode too why don’t you

807: Anonymous Lol

lol

808: Anonymous Gamer

lol the madlad actually did it

809: Anonymous Survivor

maybe I’ll have a match with Bell sometimes

810: Anonymous Gamer

survivorfag?!

811: Anonymous Gamer

what took you so long, brother?!

812: Anonymous Gamer

any more info about Bell?

813: Anonymous Survivor

whoa I did not expect such a warm welcome 

>>812

still investigating

the match is also to confirm things actually

814: Anonymous Gamer

>>813

hype

815: Anonymous Gamer

>>813

btw have you decided on a plan for the fight?

816: Anonymous Survivor

>>797

you watching this thread Pitohui?

if you’re giving her a lightsaber then I’ll go with one too

817: Anonymous Gamer

>>816

yeah I am

you serious about that? can I join?

818: Anonymous Gamer

bird-brained bitch you literally just made her cry, did you forget already? 

819: Anonymous Gamer

>>818

hey that’s rude

I still remember, of course. but this is a different thing entirely

820: Anonymous Gamer

>>818

don’t bother man, you can’t fix the pito

821: Anonymous Survivor

so? yes lightsaber? no lightsaber?

822: Anonymous Gamer

yes lightsaber

I’ll give her back the CZ 75 and the lightsaber. also maybe try to get her to sell the deagle too

823: Anonymous Gamer

>>822

hold the fuck up

824: Anonymous Gamer

>>822

yup she is so dead

825: Anonymous Survivor

>>822

alright

gonna go DM Bell on Twister then

826: Anonymous Gamer

>>825

see you later

alright, I’ll go meet Bell too, early bird gets the worm and all that

827: Anonymous Gamer

but is it actually the worm you’ll be getting…?

828: Anonymous Gamer

hopefully she’s still not sulking

829: Anonymous Gamer

a sulking bell is fine too


	7. Of The SAO Incident / Reunion / A Group Chat

_ “...the Gravekeeper. _

_ I wonder when it was that I’d first heard that name. _

_ At the very least, I was quite sure that it had been after the formation of the reviled red guild, Laughing Coffin. _

_ A young woman who held the utmost hatred for the act of player-killing (PK), she would hunt the perpetrators down to the end of Aincrad no matter what motive they had, what method they used. A player-killer-killer (PKK), she was called. Some say she had killed over a hundred. Look at it another way, that also meant there had been more than a hundred murderers in that castle of iron. _

_ Now, among those of you who have read until this point, I’m sure some of you would share a question. _

_ “Did the Gravekeeper truly killed only red players and no one else?” _

_ The answer to that is: yes. Yes, ever since she began her PKK activities and until the black swordsman cleared the death game that was SAO, until the castle of iron returned into the ocean of electrons where it came from, she had killed only PKers without a single mistake. _

_ How do I know that? That is because other than a single exception, she had always only ever acted on requests that came from trustable people, or on information gathered from several different info-dealers. Of course, we can’t discard the possibility that she’d committed player-killing without anyone knowing, but we might as well say that the possibility was near zero. _

_ Why? _

_ Simple. She herself had been a victim of a PK. Her little sister who she’d been very close to, rumors had it. This was also the reason for her title. Whenever she wasn’t getting food, grinding levels, or engaging in PKK after receiving requests or info, she mainly spent her time in front of a grave in a small, abandoned village in the 50th floor of Aincrad. This was rather common knowledge among players in the region, and it had spread enough that some players had come searching for her directly for their PKK requests. _

_ Oh, the exception? That’s obvious, isn’t it? As I have mentioned previously, she had begun her activities  _ after _ the formation of Laughing Coffin. And before Laughing Coffin sent their announcement to us information dealers, they had massacred a guild. _

_ You should be able to figure it out by now. _

_ The Gravekeeper only carried out her PKK reactively, but there was one single target that she took the initiative to pursue. _

_ It was the guild Laughing Coffin…” _

(Excerpt from  _ Of The SAO Incident _ , chapter 6 “About Player-Killing”)

●

  
“...how?”

_ “you ok?” _ _   
_ _ “acquaintance maybe?” _ _   
_ _ “wut srsly?” _ _   
_ _ “4real?” _

My voice quivered. In the virtual world where emotions were replicated as faithful as can be, the shock must have been fully evident on my face, but none of it felt real. My eyes could see nothing else but the name of the player in front of me. He shuffled awkwardly on his feet as he noticed my surprise. 

I shouted at him, trying to determine if this was a dream my mind made up to comfort me or if he was real.

“You’re alive… you’re alive, Iikura!”

“My name is Ikura! With one ‘i’!” he replied without missing a single beat.

_ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “there you are lolfag” _

In the middle of a desert besieged by sandstorms, in the center of an ancient ruins filled with decrepit skyscrapers, two stood. Two veterans who had survived their terrible two-years ordeal in the castle of iron, who now found each other once again under new guises. Yet their reunion was not to be a happy one, for dividing them was a cold, ruthless display counting down the time until their duel. Once again, they were fated to throw their transient lives into the grinder of war, where no mercy, no humanity could remain…

“So now that the tearful reunion is over, DIE!” I screamed

“Why?!!” shouted Iikura.

_ “what do you mean, why? you know why” _ _   
_ _ “all handsome avatars must die” _ _   
_ _ “and including the fact that he knows Bell, no mercy! NO MERCY!” _ _   
_ _ “fuck him up Bell!!” _ _   
_ _ “my little girl is the strongest!!” _ _   
_ _ “no she’s not yours she’s mine” _ _   
_ _ “no mine” _

So yeah, was trying to sound dramatic and all but hey, a PvP is a PvP. Sure survivorfag might have helped me out back in the castle of iron where his nickname used to be ‘hokkaiikura’, but that didn’t mean I was going to go easy on him.

To explain how this stream happened, I got a DM in my Twister account requesting a PvP from a guy who was known on the chanboards as ‘survivorfag’. I was curious to see who this mysterious gentleman was since the things he’d said implied that he knew me back in my SAO days, but I never thought he was actually Hokka Iikura. No one could have seen this coming! No one, I say!

Also I don’t care what he says, he would always be Iikura to me.

Anyway, back to the present.

I swerved around to his back, pulling out my CZ 75 SP-1 Tacticals from their holsters and firing, both as warning shots and as a declaration of war. Multiple bullet lines appeared on his limbs to signal my assault. But he too was a denizen of GGO, a world of bullets and gunpowder. Any moment now, he would leap back to pull out his own gun, and a vicious gunfight would—

“Watah!” He shouted, calmly throwing off his cloak to reveal his left arm, armored in rugged, silvery plates, which he used to deflect my bullets. 

“...what?” I uttered in surprise.

_ “huh?” _ _   
_ _ “wut?” _ _   
_ _ “hey survivorfag’s pretty good” _ _   
_ _ “reminds me of one of those spartans” _

He then pulled out from its holster not a gun, but a short rod that was shaped like a flashlight. I saw it and immediately understood what he was going for.

This wasn’t going to be a gunfight, was it?

“What dumbass would bring a sword to a gunfight?!” I screamed at him, which got me a  _ shhwoom! _ right at my face for my trouble, “eep!”

“Huh?” he uttered as if he couldn’t understand what I was talking about, but his arm wasn’t stopping.

_ “huh?” _ _   
_ _ “huh is right” _ _   
_ _ “do you know what the thing under your gun is, Bell?” _ _   
_ _ “hold on doesn’t this CZ 75 look pretty sus too?” _ _   
_ _ “eldritch guns are love, eldritch guns are life…” _ _   
_ _ “pot, meet kettle” _

I immediately jumped backward. His photon sword sliced through the air in front of my eyes, and a drop of cold sweat ran down my face. He was better than I expected.

Iikura was one of the players I met when I was doing… things… during the latter half of the SAO incident. According to him, he was a clinical psychologist in real life. I remembered how he was one of the few rare people who provided therapy wherever there were a lot of people suffering from psychological stress, from the Town of Beginnings to the Clearers’ front line.

Considering the circumstances of how we first met, I’d thought that he wasn’t very good at combat with real humans. Looked like I was wrong. 

Anyway, this was GGO. I wasn’t so dumb as to go all up-close-and-personal melee here.

...why are you looking at me like that? No. No, I say.

The two of us continued circling around each other, trading attacks all the while.

“SHAAAHH!!”

“Whoa too close!”

_ “is it just me or is he actually good?” _ _   
_ _ “well he’s a SAO veteran” _ _   
_ _ “as I heard it you still need some amount of melee combat skills if you wanted to survive there, even if you weren’t a top player” _

This was bad. Really bad. My bullets hadn’t been hitting at all. Iikura was a  _ lot  _ more difficult than I thought. He was using the ballistic shield on his left arm to deflect the bullets without missing a single one, while approaching me with textbook-perfect movements and attacking. In exchange to being usable only at melee range, the photon sword boasted one of the highest attack power in GGO. I had decently good stats, but there was still a chance I might get one-shotted if he got a clean hit at my torso. The weapon was  _ insane _ .

It’d be easy for me to wreck him if I switch to melee combat. I still had the  _ thing  _ that the psychopathic bird gave me the other day when she returned the CZ 75 to me. I can win against him 100%. For sure. No, I’m not jinxing myself here.

...though to be honest, I just didn’t really want to cut another SAO survivor.

“Why. Won’t. You. Get. Hit?!!”

“Whoa!”

“Stop using the damn shield!!”

“You can’t be serious!”

_ “girl that’s just unreasonable” _ _   
_ _ “I want bell to make unreasonable demands of me too” _ _   
_ _ “bell being difficult is my fetish” _

My annoyance grew with every bullet deflected. Realizing that this was not going anywhere, both of us retreated from each other to reset the board. 

Then Iikura called at me.

“Why don’t you just come at me in melee?! You have the bayonet, don’t you? Come on! Just like in your usual streams!”

_ “holy shit man” _ _   
_ _ “survivorfag reaaaaaally wants a swordfight doesn’t he” _ _   
_ _ “well the fight isn’t going anywhere, so” _ _   
_ _ “why isn’t bell going melee?” _ _   
_ _ “probably has her reasons” _

Iikura was taunting me with some  _ incredibly  _ irritating gestures. But I am an adult. I am a lady. I am not going to fall so low as to break my conviction to such a transparent provocation. And because I am such a calm and collected person, I made my counterargument.

“Don’t wanna! I’ve made a vow to never raise my sword against another survivor—”

Iikura didn’t let me finish.

“Then do you want to lose?! Do you want to lose against a backline player like me?! Just imagine what Ashley and Lapin and the others would say if they can see you now!!”

_ “uh oh” _ _   
_ _ “yeah I can already guess what’s going to happen” _ _   
_ _ “I’ll bring the wine” _

This was a provocation.

This was undoutably, unmistakably a provocation of the highest order.

Come on, he could have at least try to be subtle, I mean he was a crafting main and was even providing therapy on the side, as one of the better SAO players if I lose to him here it’d be really embarrassing and then if it gets out to those perverts I might as well dig a hole and live in it forever but I am a perfect lady in my mid-twenties I would never succumb to such obvious taunting and go back on my word and raise my sword against another survivor…

…

…

…

“ALL RIGHT, YOU WANT SOME?! YOU’LL FUCKING GET SOME!!”

_ “and so the cycle is complete” _ _   
_ _ “thank you for the free comedy skit” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “oooh you kiss your mother with that mouth?” _ _   
_ _ “time to survive, survivorfag” _

No cutting another survivor? Hah, fuck that noise.

I immediately activated the  _ thing  _ that I’d mounted on the picatinny rail of the CZ 75 to replace the bayonet. I dailed the knob up to increase the power and  _ shhweaah _ ! A blade made of light, the same blade that Iikura was wielding, appeared.

It was the Muramasa F9, a photon sword. Pitohui, who apparently possessed more than three of them, had given me two and said, “Go ahead and take them, they’re yours! In return sell me the Deser—” so I took her up on her word and used them as materials to craft a photon bayonet with my Bayonet skill.

What, Pitohui? Yeah she’s dead.

I killed her.

“Hah!” 

I used my overwhelming AGI to force my way inside the reach of the insolent fool and with the CZ 75 held in my left hand, slice off his right arm that was holding the photon sword. 

“Whoa-argh!” groaned Iikura.

_ “that’s bell alright” _ _   
_ _ “wow so awesome, much skill, great sword” _ _   
_ _ “guys why are literally none of you saying ANYTHING ABOUT THE GODDAMN PHOTON SWORD STUCK UNDER THE GUN??!!?!” _ _   
_ _ “begone, this is no place for sane viewers such as you” _ _   
_ _ “what you say? photon sword attached to pistol? isn’t that just business as always?” _

With a shout, my remaining momentum was then channeled into a roundhouse kick in his solar plexus with such force that my other leg sank into the sand. He grunted, and a chunk of his HP was gone. 

_ “alright everyone go home she won” _ _   
_ _ “rest in peace, survivorfag…” _ _   
_ _ “he was a real stand-up guy…” _ _   
_ _ “cause of death: angering Bell” _

I’ve come this far, might as well.

While Iikura was still floating helplessly in the air, I settled into a particular stance, with the CZ 75 in my right hand brought to under my left shoulder and my wrist turned. Azure-blue visual effects and a distinct sound reminiscent of engine noises appeared in my mind. In GGO, there was no invisible hand to assist my movements. But after two years of holding a blade, the Sword Skills that had been a loan from SAO’s system had now truly become skills of my own.

Iikura’s eyes opened wide, and he instantly brought up his shield. My blade flashed toward him. One, two, three, four. The shield screamed with every swing of my blade, and the final slash melted it into two.

Fad Edge, a four-hit Sword Skill for daggers. Its drawback was its long Post-Motion, but the high power and multiple hits made it a powerful Sword Skill once the user got used to it.

And in GGO, there was no Sword Skill system. Which meant there was no Post-Motion.

“You got me mad now...!” I said, advancing toward shieldless, down-on-the-ground Iikura.

“Uh oh…”

_ “no seriously, bell is crazy good with a sword” _ _   
_ _ “this little girl is too powerful, she must be stopped” _ _   
_ _ “you take that back, Bell is an elegant and perfectly adult lady!” _ _   
_ _ “‘adult’ being the operative word here” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

I slashed with my left CZ 75. Rapid Bite, a two-hit Sword Skill for daggers.

The torrent of energy mercilessly came down on Iikura, blasting away what little HP he had left and turning him into polygons, not even allowing him a chance to cry out his death throes. In his final moments, his eyes were blank and unfocused, like he’d witnessed a truth of the world.

“Fucking serves you right,” I spat.

_ “need some soap to wash that potty mouth?” _ _   
_ _ “REC” _ _   
_ _ “born just in time to see a little girl spit at her dead opponent, what a time to be alive” _ _   
_ _ “do you sell that spit?” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “said she wasn’t going to use her sword but then cut him down anyway, truly a model for all streamers” _ _   
_ _ “I’m not sure what a model streamer even is anymore” _ _   
_ _ “bell could make for a philosophical thesis” _

Now that’s some dirty fireworks. Phew.

What? Photon sword? A sword duel with another survivor? 

Hah, now that’s a funny joke.

“Nothing happened here. I did not cut down Iikura, I mean, survivorfag, with a photon sword. Understood?”

_ “understood” _ _   
_ _ “understood” _ _   
_ _ “yes maam!” _ _   
_ _ “yes mama!” _ _   
_ _ “mama just killed a man!” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

Now that I’d calmed down from the adrenaline rush, it was time to check the loot.

...no weapon drop. Tsk. You got lucky this time, Iikura.

There were quite a lot more viewers than I expected, apparently because they heard that two SAO survivors (which was information I had  _ not  _ revealed) were duking it out in GGO.

...wonder if that blacky’s watching too. Oh well, GGO wasn’t a game about swords (most of the time) anyway. I couldn’t imagine that wuss playing this. If he did, though, he’d probably go for the ridiculous build of dual-wielding photon swords, and that’s just absolutely stupid.

What, me? I don’t use swords, what are you talking about?

“Alright, that’s it for today’s stream.”

_ “see you!” _ _   
_ _ “bye” _ _   
_ _ “RIP survivorfag” _ _   
_ _ “who’s that?” _ _   
_ _ “survivorfag? nah, doesn’t ring a bell” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “you really don’t say anything do you lolfag?” _ _   
_ _ “byebye!” _

And thus ended a stream that was slightly shorter than usual.

  
  
  
●  
  
  
  


**[Confirmed A Survivor]** The Bell Thread, Part 8

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a smol VR streamer and SAO survivor who’d shown up out of the blue one day. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there haters… wait no it’s gone now. Fuck yeah.

…

…

…

2: Anonymous Gamer

it can’t be…! the haters are gone…?!

3: Anonymous Gamer

F U C K Y E A H

4: Anonymous Gamer

they die off with every new stream, this was inevitable

5: Anonymous Gamer

survivorfag also died in today’s stream too

6: Anonymous Gamer

>attempts a sword duel with Bell, got rejected

↓

>panicked and started taunting Bell

↓

>succeeded a little too well

↓

>got filleted by Bell’s berserk blade

↓

>gets picked on by us due to the overly handsome avatar, among other things< currently in this stage

7: Anonymous Gamer

poor guy...

8: Anonymous Gamer

a natural foil is what he is

9: Anonymous Survivor

(´・ω・`) I lost...

10: Anonymous Gamer

survivorfag!!

11: Anonymous Gamer

Survivorfag! The man who’s all bark and no bite!

12: Anonymous Survivor

>>11

just you wait, I’ve memorized your ID

maaannn Bell sure was strong. Also it’s confirmed, she is someone I know

13: Anonymous Gamer

>>12

wat?

you know her??? you actually know her in real life??????

14: Anonymous Gamer

>>12

wat?

15: Anonymous Gamer

>>12

seriously?

16: Anonymous Gamer

>>12

we have a traitor in our midst!! get him!! lynch time! LYNCH TIME!

17: Anonymous Gamer

bring out the pitchforks!

18: Anonymous Survivor

we were just in the same guild in SAO

it’s not what you guys are thinking, we’re not like that

also I had something I wanted her to help with but she logged out before I could send a friend request

sadface.jpg

19: Anonymous Gamer

aww don’t be sad

20: Anonymous Gamer

here, wipe your tears with this

tissue.jpg

21: Anonymous Gamer

here, fap with this

bell’s_secret_folder.zip

22: Anonymous Survivor

>>19 >>20

thankee, thankee

>>21

we are going to have a little  _ talk  _ later

23: Anonymous Gamer

eep…

24: Anonymous Gamer

I can almost see her undies… almost...

25: Anonymous Gamer

no you can’t

26: Anonymous Lol

lol

27: Anonymous Gamer

lolfag has entered the battle

28: Anonymous Gamer

lolfag has entered the battle has entered the battle

29: Anonymous Gamer

hello, “lolfag has entered the battle”

30: Anonymous Gamer

lolmao

31: Anonymous Lol

don’t you fucking mix them together you fuck

32: Anonymous Gamer

uh, yeah, sorry…

33: Anonymous Gamer

>>31

OMG YOU SPEAKS??!?!!??!

>>18

there’s still Twister survivorfag, don’t give up yet

34: Anonymous Gamer

btw survivorfag did you set for photon sword only when you sent the PvP request?

35: Anonymous Survivor

oshit

36: Anonymous Gamer

>>35

wait seriously?

37: Anonymous Gamer

>>35

ok yeah I can’t defend this

38: Anonymous Survivor

I totally forgot

but Bell doesn’t seem like she wants a swordfight another survivor anyway, had I sent a sword only request she might have kicked it entirely

39: Anonymous Gamer

(´・ω・`) she didn’t sell me the deagle...

40: Anonymous Gamer

of damn course

41: Anonymous Gamer

in fact you should appreciate the fact that she didn’t just kill you from the get-go

42: Anonymous Survivor

never thought she’d attach the photon sword to her pistol

actually can you even do that?

43: Anonymous Gamer

>>41

I was just about to tell her to “sell me the Desert Eagle please, with a cherry on the top” when she slammed lead in my head

>>42

good fight, that was a close one

also don’t forget to give me back the shield I lent you. Craft it, farm for it, buy it, whatever it takes as long as you get it ready. Alright?

just like I thought, Bell is  _ amazing _ . I was watching bits of it during work, that last combo got me so wet

it was called Sword Skill in SAO right? never heard of people using it without system assist but it’s Bell here, she can probably do it

44: Anonymous Gamer

>>43

that shield was Pitohui’s? Be strong, survivorfag, you must be strong.

also still got killed in the end like I expected lol

>>42

there should be a Photon Bayonet option in the Bayonet category, if I remember correctly. The bayonet crafting skill is actually quite broad, you can even make an estoc if you wanted to

attaching it to a pistol’s underbarrel is absolutely a Bell classic though, no one else would do that

45: Anonymous Gamer

conclusion: bell stronk

46: Anonymous Gamer

how’d you come to that conclusion?

47: Anonymous Gamer

well the black swordsman exists. an actual OP character in real life. even better than Kayaba Akihiko

48: Anonymous Gamer

word on the streets is that xXXx_black_swordsman_xXXx is currently in ALO

he was also involved in resolving the incident there or something

49: Anonymous Gamer

>>48

wow okay that’s the black swordsman all right

also the SAO Incident Compendium (or whatever it’s called) is getting released soon right?

50: Anonymous Gamer

huh a compendium sounds neat

I’m more interested in this new VR? AR? device that’s coming out soon though

**●**

**NotIikura!!!**

I found Frenda

**IfOnlyICouldBeLupin**

srsly? deets

**NotIikura!!!**

she’s streaming under the name Bell

**IfOnlyICouldBeLupin**

ofuck why didn’t I recognize the smell of my lovely frenda!! gotta go watch the vods now!!

**NotIikura!!!**

see you later

**OnlySewsForLittleGirls**

just got off work. you found her?

**NotIikura!!!**

was thinking I could get her to help out with my work, also so I can followup on her therapy

**OnlySewsForLittleGirls**

uh, think it might be better if you don’t. She’s already way too unstable, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to drag her into your therapist work

**NotIikura!!!**

yeah, I guess you’re right. But I do want to meet up and talk

**OnlySewsForLittleGirls**

yeah. It’s been a while, us trade union members should get together for a drink

**NotIikura!!!**

I’ll see if I can contact the rat

god this is so scary. Especially after I already asked her tons of stuff about frenda.

**OnlySewsForLittleGirls**

want me to be your cheerleader? I’ve got the whole outfit here

**NotIikura!!!**

oh please god no

**OnlySewsForLittleGirls**

oh hey nice, the bots have reported in


	8. Vs. Pitohui Once More (1st)

“Hello. I’m Bell, a GGO streamer, and good morning to you.”

_ “hello” _ _   
_ _ “hi” _ _   
_ _ “it’s noon though” _ _   
_ _ “still morning” _ _   
_ _ “eh I’ll take it” _ _   
_ _ “hi” _

Yes, hello, hello, it’s a stream day today. What? No, I don’t stream every day, I just stream seven days a week.

I waved my hand at the virtual camera that I’d placed opposite of my avatar, reading and responding to the scrolling viewer comments in a corner of my vision, and I explained today’s plans.

“So you’ve noticed how I’m streaming earlier than usual, yeah? Well the thing is, I got a little something from the psychopathic bird.”

I showed the viewers the datapad I got from her, and she instantly became a hot topic.

_ “business as usual” _ _   
_ _ “was thinking I haven’t seen her for a while since she got kicked out of the auction. So she’s actually alive?” _ _   
_ _ “I saw her in the Squad Jam the other day” _ _   
_ _ “uh oh Pitohui’s planning something again” _

Everyone’s just used to her now. Well, me too, really.

Datapads in this game was the equivalent of scrolls in SAO, an item you can use to write on and give to another player or keep as a personal memo. And on this datapad that she’d sent to my in-game house, this was the content:

_ “I got a super rare pistol. If you want it, go online at anytime from 2 to 5 p.m within today, go to the location written here, and win in a PvP match against me. I’ll be waiting. Furthermore, if you take me off the auction blacklist, I’ll immediately give the gun to you, no question. I’ll give you some real money too.” _

Attached with the datapad was a screenshot of the pistol she had. She had actually handwritten the note, and with calligraphy-level handwriting too, at that. It’s strangely… intimidating, to say the least. Also, the latter half of the text was written in a so much bigger font size, which really went to show how much she wanted to be off the blacklist. And she should know direct real-money transactions between players went against this game’s ToS, shouldn’t she? Was she really that desperate?

Not like I care anyway.

“Ok, sure, she’s prepared a rare pistol, but that’s  _ so obviously  _ a trap. I’m not that dumb, who do you think I am?”

_ “sure whatever you say” _ _   
_ _ “wait for it… wait for it…” _ _   
_ _ “I can already see the punchline coming a mile away” _

“So anyway excuse me for a moment, I need to go kill Pitohui just a little bit.”

_ “aaaaand there it is” _ _   
_ _ “I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you!” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “going straight for the rare pistol obviously dangling as bait, truly a model for streamers everywhere” _ _   
_ _ “you can really feel the determination to not let Pitohui back into auctions” _ _   
_ _ “hang in there pito, don’t despair” _ _   
_ _ “don’t be careless Bell, your victory is not assured” _

“I know how much she loves ambushes, she’s probably gonna bury AP mines all over the place anyway.”

_ “might even have some bounding mines” _ _   
_ _ “not sure if those are in the game yet, but the scary thing about Pito is that she would totally use them” _ _   
_ _ “yeah, she burns bills to summon weapons” _ _   
_ _ “that’s a Tribute Summoning, get it right” _ _   
_ _ “wow we’ve got duelists watching this stream” _

I turned away from the camera and started preparing my equipment. I changed out of the loungewear I usually had on whenever I streamed inside my house into an outfit I recently bought, a MultiCam-patterned combat shirt and cargo pants. Two CZ 75 SP-1 Tacticals, my current favorites, went into the holsters on my hips. They were the pistols that had been modified to have the photon swords I got from Pitohui instead of their old bayonets, and apparently my viewers have started to call them the Bell Model. The CZ 75 BM.

Nice. Very nice.

_ “guys I swear I can hear her clothes rustling!!!” _ _   
_ _ “yeah it goes like… bzzt… bzzt…” _ _   
_ _ “lol that’s the sound of electrons not clothes” _

“Hey. You perv over there. Calm down or I’m going to report you.”

_ “soz” _ _   
_ _ “Bell saying ‘pervert’ and scowling is exactly my fetish” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “hey lolfag’s here” _

I finished changing, a process that included my avatar showing off her undies for a split second, and turned the camera back at me. Next were the healing syringes and extra magazines, which were materialized beforehand and put into their respective pouches and pockets so I could easily access them at a moment’s notice, and then I was done with the preparations to go fight Pitohui. Took about three minutes. I did a final check on the photon swords attached to my CZ 75s and headed toward the location Pitohui indicated.

“A bit far, isn’t it? I don’t want half the stream to be just me moving…”

_ “nah we don’t mind heheh” _ _   
_ _ “we can chat while you’re moving” _ _   
_ _ “what about a buggy?” _

“Ooh, good idea. A buggy should be fast enough to get me through a minefield in case I’m heading toward one… hopefully…”

_ “...uh, yeah, it can totally do that!” _ _   
_ _ “you gotta believeeeee” _ _   
_ _ “nah it can’t go through a minefield, but it can serve as a shield in a pinch. Also it’s faster than walking” _ _   
_ _ “hold on, aren’t GGO’s buggies notoriously hard to drive?” _

“Can’t be harder than riding a horse, can it? All right, hippity hoppity let’s get myself a buggy!”

And so I went to a buggy rental place on SBC Glocken’s main street, rented one, started the engine, and started...

  
  


...s-started d-d...

  
  


...started d-d-dri-driv…

  
  


“Howwwwww do I drive this thingggg?”

_ “lmao” _ _   
_ _ “see I told you… or maybe I didn’t” _ _   
_ _ “aww don’t cry” _ _   
_ _ “it’s fine, you’ll still be in time if you walk” _

Seeing that I was on the verge of tears, the comments started trying to soothe me. But they just made me feel worse...

I’m sorry… I’m sorry I’m such a shit player… don’t even know how to drive a buggy…

  
●

And so, crying tears of blood, I gave up on the buggy.

There was someone among my viewers who said they drove a manual transmission motorbike, a dying breed during the current age of electric vehicles, and since the buggy drove similarly, they taught me quite a lot on how to handle it. It still felt too much for me, though, so I decided to play it safe and just walk.

What even are gears anyway? I thought all cars just go  _ vroom  _ as long as you push on the acceleration?

“All right, we’re nearly there… gotta watch for ambushes.”

_ “lol absolutely no faith” _ _   
_ _ “well it’s Pito, what do you expect?” _ _   
_ _ “as they say, she reaps what she sows” _ _   
_ _ “when you brake, first release the accelerator and then grip the clutch lever” _ _   
_ _ “manual transmission bike guy, please rest in peace already” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

I readied my CZ 75s so that I could immediately disarm the mines if I saw them. There wasn’t much of a point to it though, since landmines were normally set up so that you couldn’t actually  _ see  _ them. Whatever it is that you encounter on the ground in those serpentine stealth games, they were certainly not landmines. The guns were more for my self-defense in case Pitohui showed up out of nowhere, really.

I moved forward, silencing my breathing and talking with my viewers in a whisper… speaking of which, the appointed location in Pitohui’s message was at a distinctive-looking map where enormous boulders more than twice the height of a grown man dotted the landscape, and also where surprise encounters and close-range fights happened all the time. It was why I’d been watching out for ambushes and mines.

I strained my ears, trying to pick out strange sounds that didn’t belong out of the environmental and monster noises around me. As I moved toward the shadow of a boulder, my nerves highly strung, my vision was suddenly colored crimson.

Wait a minute…

“A bullet line!”

_ “machinegun?” _ _   
_ _ “no not that, Bell get back now!!” _

“I know, I know!”

I instantly jumped backward. Not a moment later, the ground to the sides of the location where I used to be exploded, throwing out a terrifying amount of metal pellets. 

I knew what it is. A weapon embodying how evil humans could be.

“Claymores!”

_ “my butthole just puckered up” _ _   
_ _ “that’s some rip-and-tear level of bloodlust” _ _   
_ _ “she’s not letting Bell leave this place alive is she” _ _   
_ _ “Pito heard that explosion, hurry up!” _

“Uh, well, too late now.”

Right after I avoided the claymore explosions — still had no clue how I did it, really — with my eyes glancing at the surge of warning comments, I stood stock-still.

I was forced to, considering that six different bullet lines surrounding me had just appeared right at the moment of the claymores’ explosions. Lines that drew distinctive arches taller than the boulders.

Eyup. 

Pitohui fucking pulled out the grenade launchers. 

I wasn’t sure what type they were, but six shots probably meant Milkor. Expensive stuff. She really was filthy rich, wasn’t she? Must have burned a few dozen thousands yen for this.

I looked up at the bullet lines and saw some very familiar projectiles. They were the 40-mm shell version of the grenades that GGO players often kept on their persons as a good-luck charm: plasma grenades.

“...she really isn’t holding back, is she?”

_ “holy shit” _ _   
_ _ “this has stopped being funny” _ _   
_ _ “shit you might just drop the CZ 75s here” _ _   
_ _ “go bell, go go go!” _

“Fine, then.”

Pitohui was pulling out all the stops. She was actually using 40-mm plasma shells just to get one single kill on a GGO player without caring how much it costed her.

Just perfect..

“Time to get a little bit serious,” I said.

I moved my finger from the trigger guard and swiftly dailed up the photon sword’s knob.

_ Schwoom, _ appeared two beams of light. I confirmed their activations and made a single step forward.

Wait, dashing here was going to get me killed. Nope. Nope. To the air it is.

I changed my mind at the very last moment and  _ jumped _ .

And immediately after, six plasma shells vaporized the area.

“GRAAAHHHRR!!!”

_ “that is the dirtiest scream I’ve ever heard” _ _   
_ _ “thought I lost my eardrums for a moment there” _ _   
_ _ “I lost mine” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “that is a plumber-worthy wall jump” _

Running away from the terrifying blue light that would disintegrate me if I so much as grazed it, I chained my kicks off the ground and the walls to send myself away from the explosion and toward the blue sky, a feat only possible thanks to the high AGI I earned through so many hours of gameplay. But still I could not outrun the shockwave, which shaved off a not insignificant amount of my HP.

“Yes yes I know it’s not over yet!” I shouted.

Several bullet lines appeared to pierce through my legs when I was still in the air and unable to move. Must be Pitohui’s sniping. I followed the lines to their origins and I saw the detestable woman, still wearing her usual slutty bodysuit that hid absolutely nothing.

But I wasn’t going to stay a sandbag forever. She’d pulled out the trump card that were plasma shells, after all. It was my turn to show her my own trump card that I’d been practicing!

Focus. Imagine the azure blue light, the accompanying piercing jet engine noise.

I felt my vision slow down while my thoughts, the signals that controlled my body, seemed to spark, going faster and faster in inverse proportion. Soon enough, I began to grasp the trajectories of the bullets flying at me with my own eyes.

“OOOOOWAAAAHHH!!!”

_ “could this be…?!” _ _   
_ _ “you know what this is, exposition man?!” _ _   
_ _ “it must be bullet slicing! the ridiculous skill used by the mysterious cute girl who’d gotten to the BoB finals with just a photon sword!! she just literally cut apart bullets like what the fuck!!” _ _   
_ _ “u srs?” _ _   
_ _ “if Bell can pull this off it’s going to be the coolest thing of all time” _

With the viewers attention and expections weighing on me, I swung my blade, a swing backed by all my blood, sweat, and tears, the pinnacle of my skills drawing a perfect arc!

“...whoops.”

Pitohui’s bullets hit my legs.

The counterforce of my full-power swing twisted my posture somewhat. My blade hit nothing but air.

I sniffled.

_ “swing and a miss” _ _   
_ _ “a bit lower than the bullet lines” _ _   
_ _ “in a way this is exactly what the viewers expected” _ _   
_ _ “watch your HP. Better start healing, Bell” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

“...yeah, I-I know, everyone fails one time or another.”

No, I’m not crying. I’m not crying, I swear!

Hit by the bullets, my trajectory downward was changed and I landed on top of a boulder. Silver lining, I supposed. At least there was no risk of landmines here.

What? Getting serious? I never said that.

As my mood lowered a notch, I jabbed a rather expensive healing syringe into my neck, then began advancing toward Pitohui who was still mercilessly shooting at me. The closer I got, the less time difference there was between the appearance of the bullet line and the actual projectile impact, but I got through it somehow with nothing but guts. My brain was screaming from the stress I was putting on it.

I want to go home.

“Heyyy there, my little Bell! It’s been a while since we got a one-on-one duel to the death. We’re going to play so much today!!” Pitohui yelled, her face in a  _ very  _ big smile as she shot at me with a KTR-09, a high-power rifle.

At this distance, bullet lines had lost all meanings. I tried my best to get close, dodging all the while, but I kept getting terrified out of my mind each time I heard the sound of a bullet grazing much too close past my ears.

Please. Let me go home already.

“Eep.. eek... “ I whimpered.

_ “Bell still making insane dodges despite sounding like a traumatized puppy” _ _   
_ _ “Bell still shooting back with her pistol once in a while despite being scared stiff of Pitohui’s grin” _ _   
_ _ “watching her reminds me that Bell is actually one of the better players out there” _ _   
_ _ “imagine what she can do if only she would use a rifle” _

Leaping over boulders and slipping through bullets, I finally reached pistol range. I tentatively fired two shots, but no luck. She dodged. Was melee actually the best strategy in GGO after all...?

“Hah, hah, hiyah!!” I huffed.

She just laughed, “Hahah! That’s amazing! Do it again-whoa?!”

After several minutes of shooting and being shot at, evading and being evaded, Pitohui’s KTR-09 finally ran out of ammo with a  _ clack _ . She clicked her tongue and attempted to change magazines, but I was already in melee range. Sure she had some  _ freakish _ hand speed that allowed her to reload a rifle in only two or three seconds, but a few seconds was all I needed.

“GIMME RARE PISTOLSSSSSS!!!” I screamed.

_ “lol pretty much just a junkie now” _ _   
_ _ “well collecting pistols is her hobby…” _ _   
_ _ “it’s like using pistols instead of candies to lure out a little girl, only this little girl can kick your butt. Perfect” _

Melee combat. As a SAO survivor, exactly the range I was best at. I hadn’t been hit after my previous heal, and I still had 90% health. The CZ 75s were in peak condition, with the photon sword under the barrels releasing threatening sparks.

I swung at grinning Pitohui’s neck at a speed that normal people might be able to see but certainly couldn’t react, and my mind started drifting toward the new rare pistol that would be going into my collection.

But in the next moment, it turned out I was the one to take damage.

“Aaahahahah!!! This is great! This is wonderful! Exactly the deadly battle I wanted!!” Pitohui cackled.

“Argh!!” I groaned.

_ “??!!?!” _ _   
_ _ “the fuck just happened?” _ _   
_ _ “dunno, but it sure looks like an insane exchange of blows” _

I kicked the ground in desperation to retreat from Pitohui, my eyes wide open in surprise.

...my vision had narrowed. She took one of my eyes, apparently. But the slash I unleashed the moment I leapt away seemed to have hit, as there was a large damage effect line going across her body.

Hmm. Sure the photon sword’s power was reduced a bit after being turned into a bayonet, but this was still one of the strongest weapons in GGO, and yet she hadn’t dropped after such a clean hit. Good armor, maybe, or perhaps her stats were just as high as mine. Likely both.

My vision was narrower now, and my sense of depth was messed up. I secretly winced at the current situation and spoke to her.

“Didn’t think you could react there.”

“Ooh, surprised? I trained, like, a ton since I wanted a duel to the death with you so much. You really are good, though. That counterattack took me by surprise.”

“...that’s my line. Never thought you’d actually throw away your KTR without hesitating a single bit.”

_ “AAAAAAAAA THE GUN THE BEST RIFLE OH MY GOD WHAT A WASTE” _ _   
_ _ “jesus how much did Pitohui spend on this single fight?” _ _   
_ _ “probably at least a few hundred thousands yen” _ _   
_ _ “eww” _

To explain what actually happened there, Pitohui had noticed that she wouldn’t reload in time for my attack and had immediately thrown the magazine at me, then held the KTR like a sword. The magazine hadn’t even worked as a distraction to me, but cutting through the KTR had certainly taken me a moment, and it had been during that moment that she immediately dropped the KTR and took evasive action as though she was a character in Matrix, all the while taking out a knife from the strap on her arm and throwing it at my right eye.

“All right, so I’ve got a present for you, my little Bell,” Pitohui said, some distance away from me, “thanks for entertaining me so much.” 

_ “I’ve got a bad feeling about this and I don’t know why” _ _   
_ _ “don’t worry man, you’re not alone there” _

“Present?” I replied as I regained my virtual breath.

“Here’s the super-rare pistol I found! Tadah!”

Pitohui took from her hip holsters  _ two _ pistols and displayed them to me.

And the moment I saw them, both my eyes immediately opened wide despite being blind on one side.

“T-that’s…” I stammered.

“The Arsenal Firearms AF2011-A1! And the rare DBDC Tactical version too, at that. And I’ve got two of them! Come on, don’t you want these?” Pitohui said, waving the guns at me as though she was waving a cat teaser.

I whimpered. The logical part of me was blaring an alarm that I was lowering my guard, but my eyes couldn’t help but stay fixed on the guns being waved around.

I want it! Want it want it want it so much! It’s so damn cool!!

Made by the Italian manufacturer Arsenal Firearms, the AF2011-A1 DBDC Tactical was one among the many clones of the Colt 1911 that existed throughout the world. But the greatest characteristic of this gun has got to be its double barrel, a feature that brings all the girls to the yard.

What? It’s supposed to be boys, not girls? Come on, what’s wrong with girls loving double-barreled guns, huh?

The AF2011 might have looked like two Colt 1911s welded together side-by-side, but it didn’t mean someone literally just did that and called it a new gun; it actually did went through a proper designing process to make it a double-barreled gun. That alone was ridiculous enough, but the DBDC Tactical version took it a step further: it fired two differently cartridges, a high-speed .38 Super bullet and a subsonic .45 ACP bullet, which meant one pull of the trigger would send out two bullets that arrived at the target at different times. A pistol so eldritch that it would make a normal person question what sort of substance the designers were consuming in order to even think of the idea, and I truly meant that as a compliment of the highest order.

_ “OH. MY. GOD” _ _   
_ _ “you sure took your sweet time Pito. it’s so beautiful” _ _   
_ _ “the weird guns don’t even surprise me anymore these days” _ _   
_ _ “welcome to the dark side. we have pistols.” _ _   
_ _ “feels like I saw it before in a really old zombie movie” _ _   
_ _ “hey boomer” _ _   
_ _ “I hate that the comments here stinks of old people sometimes” _ _   
_ _ “so what’s your favorite character then?” _ _   
_ _ “Jill, game version. Smoking hotttttt” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

“So do you want-”

“YES!!!”

“...uh, you really want it that much?”

“GIMME!!!”

My eyes were probably sparkling by now. I mean, look, it’s the AF2011! Right in front of me! I don’t know if she bought it from someone else or if she got it as a dungeon drop, but it’ll be mine even if I have to die for it!

“By the way, I’d give this to you right now if you just take me off the auction’s blacklist,” Pitohui said.

“Kill! Mine!!!”

“...umm, well, yeah I guess I wouldn’t be satisfied if this didn’t end with one of us dying…”

“DIEEEEEEE!!!” I shrieked.

Me kill. Me take gun. Me get more strong.

Pitohui looked somewhat disappointed, but I didn’t even spare her a glance before charging at her with the photon swords on my hips in full Yakuza style, fully intending to send her sleeping with the fishes by the time I’m done with her.

She looked at me, charging forward with the weight of all my stats points behind me, and she gave me a hideous grin.

“So you know how I told you I’ve been practicing, Bell?”

“GRAAAAARGHHH!!!”

_ “lmao girl can you at least listen to Pito” _ _   
_ _ “this is exactly like a cat when it sees some catnip” _ _   
_ _ “galaxy brain idea: catear Bell” _ _   
_ _ “let’s get her into ALO” _ _   
_ _ “what are you talking about? there’s no pistols in ALO” _ _   
_ _ “lol y’all makes it sound like pistols are her top priority in literally everything” _

“Well, I wasn’t just practicing my martial arts for you, you know?”

_ “hmm?” _ _   
_ _ “wait don’t tell me” _ _   
_ _ “uh oh” _ _   
_ _ “I’d always thought she’d do it one day” _ _   
_ __ “yessss the match in my dream is becoming reality”

Then Pitohui pointed the pistol muzzle at me, letting me have a look at a very distinctive rod attached to the rails under the gun barrel, and she touched it. The moment I saw it, an ice-cold chill ran down my spine, and I hastily stopped my approach.

The very next moment, a familiar beam of light passed by right in front of my eyes.

“I’ve always wanted to fight the way you do, Bell.”

The beam of light gave off fiery sparks as it went past my eyes, as though displaying its disappointment for missing its prey.

Sure enough, it was a photon sword. One attached to a pistol.

I stood, beads of cold sweat dripping after the moment of near-death that had happened because I’d been too preoccupied by the pistols of my desire. Barring my way was Pitohui who had mimicked my ridiculous dual-wielding-photon-bayonets setup, only with the AF2011s.


	9. Vs. Pitohui Once More (2nd)

Bolts of lightning danced.

One was black-red, the color of blood. The other azure blue, the color of the noon sky. They weaved through each other, at times violently clashing, the flashes of light upon their moments of impact illuminating their wielders for but an instant.

They crossed, releasing a shower of crackling sparks. A clash as enchanting as a falling star racing across the sky, with the overwhelming ferocity of a meteor shower. But behind the stunning shower of light was a mad dance that chanced the lives of two, each step a lethal strike upon the other. A game of chicken that would last until one’s stamina ran out or if they faltered, to be struck down by the other.

In the midst of combat, a thought passed by Pitohui’s mind.  


_ Yup, I am so dead. Bell really is so strong, isn’t she? God I just wanna kill her so much. _

They were in a virtual world, yet Pitohui felt like she was slick with cold sweat. Or maybe she  _ was  _ — maybe her real-life body lying on the bed and wearing the Amusphere headset was actually drenched in sweat. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened.

Within GGO, a game supposed to be about guns and bullets, the duel of swords continued. Pitohui’s opponent, Bell, unleashed another slash to add to her assault, her blade of light growling inhumanly as it moved.

Despite having trained her reflexes for years in the virtual world, Pitohui could barely react. The slash was only blocked due to her extreme familiarity with Bell’s own quirks and habits in her offense. Bell was one of the few people who streamed a VRMMO game, which meant that her own gameplay was public for her viewers to see. And through analyzing her previous streams, someone with at least a smattering of knowledge in PvP fighting would be able to see through her quirks without much trouble.

_ Bell’s the trickster type who mixes feints into actual hits. Well all SAO survivors are probably like that anyway, but the thing about her is that in PvP combat, she always aim for lethal spots through the shortest route. If my neck is open, she aims for the neck. If my flank is open, she aims for the flank. If my back, then she aims either for the heart or kidney… really, just where did she learn that sort of assassin fighting—whoa! _

There was no time for a stray thought for Pitohui as she was forced to deal with Bell’s attacks, a flurry of slashes that left her no room for a breather. Pushing aside her irritation, she unleashed the fourth trick up her sleeve.

A sharp  _ *crack* _ sounded out, followed by a cloud of black smoke that covered the area. It came from a specially-made smoke grenade that Pitohui had created with an in-game skill which she had buried under the ground beforehand, activated by having their pins pulled out by a small protrusion that she had built into the heels of her boots. 

It was one of the many tricks she’d prepared for a fight against Bell. A week before the fight, she had begun training to be able to keep track of their locations and activate them even during high-pace combat, with the help of her personal masochistic slave.

On a related note, this practice alone had cut down Pitohui’s in-game credits amount by one digit.

_ Never thought I’d win against her in a fair melee fight in the first place. Gotta stack my deck with as many cards as I can—WHAT?! _

“You can’t be serious?!”

Pitohui yelled in shock and hastily dropped to the ground, and not a moment too soon. A beam of light passed by right above her head. With beastly senses, Bell had pinpointed her location in the black smoke.

As her panic grew, Pitohui retreated. Her plan had been to block Bell’s vision, make some distance, then finish her off with bullets from afar.

She’d called it her ‘plan D’. Taking out pistols with photon bayonets like those Bell were using was, of course, only a bluff. She had intended to rob Bell of her calmness and force her to go all out by taunting her with a very attractive bait, and yet even when obsessed by the prize, Bell still managed to dodge surprise attacks that would have easily finish off a normal player.

Pitohui’s very first plan had been to blow Bell up with the landmine + grenade launcher borrowed from an acquaintance (this one was the Right Boy, probably). Yet Bell had gotten through it by  _ wall-jumping _ , of all things, and even cut in half her beloved KTR-09.

Despite Bell’s assumptions, in that first exchange, Pitohui had only managed to take Bell’s eye with a throwing knife thanks to the intense training that (through the sacrifice of M, once again) had ingrained in her the actions she should take if Bell got in close. The training had involved M swinging a bat — to mimic a photon sword — at her at top speed, and she had to dodge it Matrix-style. Had she not spent the time training, her head might have had a tearful farewell with her body by now.

_ I set up the match here exactly because I never planned to let her get close in the first place, and now the lack of obstacles have betrayed me! Wah-too close! _

Bell was more than just a little tired. Half her vision was gone. Her HP wasn’t pristine, and the sight of the rare pistol had taken away her composure. Against a normal player, it was no exaggeration to say that there was no possibility Pitohui could lose here.

But it still wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough when her opponent was an SAO survivor. A true veteran who had gone through hell and back. 

Unlike her, the loser who had to make do with GGO, having been unable to join the death game she wanted.

A laugh rose unbidden from Pitohui’s throat.

_ Aaah. _

_ I see. _

_ This is it. _

“AAAAHAHAHAHAHAAA!”

She wasn’t sure if it was because Bell heard her laugh or if it was because of something else, but she could feel the tiny woman had just shifted her gear up another notch.

Pitohui’s instinct screamed at her. A slash completely beyond her ability to react was about to head toward her neck.

The moment she saw Bell readying to move, Pitohui immediately held up her photon bayonet in defense.

But an instant later, all Pitohui saw was the ground.

“...what?” she muttered in surprise.

“I win,” said Bell.

Bell’s photon blade hadn’t gone for her neck. It had sliced her torso in two. Her HP bar in a corner of her vision was dropping in free-fall.

It didn’t take long for her to understand that she had lost.  _ Why, _ she asked herself, and immediately got her answer.

Her prediction was off. Had she spent more time refining her strategy and her tricks, had she tried to find more ways to counter Bell, she might have won...

...or she might have lost all the same. She was confident of her own skill in GGO, but looking at Bell and the unflinching spirit she was radiating at the moment, Pitohui wasn’t sure if even that would have been enough.

Today, she tasted utter defeat.

It was frustrating, to be sure. But more than anything else, Pitohui was  _ satisfied _ .

She wasn’t there. Not yet. But one day, she would be.

“...guess that’s it. I lost,” she admitted.

“Right, now give me the Arsenal,” Bell curtly said.

“If it doesn’t drop, I’ll send it to your house later. In exchange, take me off the blacklist.”

“No.”

“...”

The thought of just running away and not giving Bell the gun flashed through Pitohui’s mind for a split second. That would go against her own personal rule, however, and so she reluctantly accepted her fate. Her HP bar continued to drain to the left, turned red, and disappeared. Her vision turned grey and the game dutifully displayed a window in front of her, forcing her to choose whether she’d like to respawn at her preset location or not. Naturally, she picked yes, and the teleportation process began, bringing her toward her base at SBC Glocken.

Someday, if she managed to get another rare pistol, she hoped she could have another battle like today. She’d pick a forest map this time and absolutely fill it in traps. She’d need to train her melee combat ability to be at least as good as an average SAO survivor, too. Going against the nutjob Llenn in a Squad Jam should make for good practice. Or maybe she could pit that girl against Bell. Should be interesting.

_ Aaah, this is why I love VRMMOs,  _ she thought.

A grin, one that might prompt a bystander to call for the authorities had they seen it, appeared on her face, and she dashed through the forest of concrete to give the victor the prize, the AF2011-A1 pistols that had stayed in her storage through her death.

  
●  
  
 ****

**[Confirmed A Survivor]** The Bell Thread, Part 8

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a smol VR streamer and SAO survivor who’d shown up out of the blue one day. Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. I made a hater thread so go there haters… wait no it’s gone now. Fuck yeah.

…

…

…

583: Anonymous Gamer

let’s talk about how OP bell is

584: Anonymous Gamer

>>583

yes, let’s

585: Anonymous Gamer

pitohui got wrecked in seconds like holy shit

586: Anonymous Gamer

as someone who brought a whole squadron to go pick a fight with pitohui and lost, I feel attacked

587: Anonymous Gamer

bell gets hard countered by snipers though

588: Anonymous Gamer

wasn’t bell losing against pitohui all the time? it’s strange how she wins so easily this time

589: Anonymous Survivor

nah it’s not strange at all. in fact I already figured Pitohui’s loss was pretty much guaranteed halfway into this match

590: Anonymous Gamer

>>589

mah man Iikura!!

591: Anonymous Gamer

>>589

survivorfag!!

592: Anonymous Gamer

you sure took your sweet time!

alright that’s the traditional greeting done

593: Anonymous Survivor

lol I’ve got a traditional greeting now

>>590

not iikura, it’s ikura with one i

594: Anonymous Gamer

welcome, ikura with one i!!

595: Anonymous Gamer

congratulations for becoming a dad

596: Anonymous Lol

lol

597: Anonymous Gamer

lolfag has entered the battle

598: Anonymous Gamer

lolfag has entered the battle has entered the battle

599: Anonymous Gamer

breaking combo here before we get into an infinite loop

600: Anonymous Gamer

>>593

I’m not sure what you meant by that. safe to say that I speak for a lot of people when I say that I’ve only ever seen Bell losing to Pitohui, so the results of this match came as a surprise to me

601: Anonymous Gamer

yeah same here. in fact it felt extra strange considering how easily Pitohui lost after all those advantages she pulled out of her ass

602: Anonymous Survivor

>>600 >>601

well yeah I guess for new viewers it’d look strange to see Pitohui losing so easily. she got destroyed this time simply because she’d done exactly the wrong thing, that’s all

603: Anonymous Gamer

what mistake did she make? the beginning bombing setup was perfect, it only didn’t work because Bell managed a clutch evasion. Then there was the suppressive fire during Bell’s approach and then the Matrix-style moves she pulled out after Bell got close, it’s all top-level skills

604: Anonymous Gamer

maybe allowing Bell to get close  _ was  _ the big mistake?

605: Anonymous Survivor

>>604

got it in one. Aren’t you a smart one

606: Anonymous Gamer

hooray

that reminds me, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pitohui winning against Bell in a fair one-on-one match

607: Anonymous Gamer

what… it can’t be?!

608: Anonymous Gamer

which means the meta to counter bell is to camp from afar and just pump out bullets without letting her get close?

609: Anonymous Survivor

>>606

yup, you really do have good eye

>>608

exactly. In fact if you want to win against Bell through any other method (i.e melee) you’d need to get a top player from ALO or somewhere else to even have a fair chance

610: Anonymous Gamer

so a ALO’s top player would be… Salamander’s General Eugene?

wait Bell can seriously go one-on-one with Eugene? why the hell is she playing GGO then?

611: Anonymous Gamer

who tf is eugene

612: Anonymous Gamer

>>611

one of those people called “OP characters in real life”. would you get it if I tell you his swordfighting skills rival that of SAO survivors?

613: Anonymous Gamer

wut?

614: Anonymous Gamer

you know kirito? Savior of the SAO incident, holder of the crown of the current dueling tournament? Eugene can go toe to toe with him

has a sour old man face though… wait a minute...

615: Anonymous Gamer

gayyyyy

616: Anonymous Survivor

nah maybe General Eugene’s a bit too much for Bell

...or maybe not? I don’t know

617: Anonymous Gamer

seriously why IS she playing GGO then???

618: Anonymous Gamer

because she loves pistols. why else can it possibly be???

619: Anonymous Gamer

I swear one day we are going to see her pistols grow tentacles

620: Anonymous Gamer

and now she even got the AF2011-A1...

621: Anonymous Gamer

might as well go for a Pfeizer Zeliska at this rate

622: Anonymous Gamer

>>621

it’s “Pfeifer”

just what is she preparing for…?

623: Anonymous Gamer

for Pitohui

624: Anonymous Gamer

sorry to cut in, but basically Pitohui lost because she let Bell get into melee range, is that right?

625: Anonymous Gamer

in fact wasn’t Pitohui aiming for a melee fight in the first place?

626: Anonymous Survivor

>>625

and that’s why I said she did exactly the wrong thing

the part where she triggered the smoke grenade trap before she died? had she used the opportunity to get the hell out of dodge and then bombard the whole area with the Milkor, she might have won. Going melee with Bell is pretty much just giving her your own head on a platter.

627: Anonymous Gamer

I’m watching the vod where survivorfag showed up right now and yes

you sound very convincing

628: Anonymous Gamer

I’m watching an idiot valiantly provoking Bell into a melee fight right now and yes

you sound extremely convincing

629: Anonymous Gamer

you can never run from your past, survivorfag

630: Anonymous Lol

lol

631: Anonymous Gamer

have you tried talking, lolfag?

632: Anonymous Survivor

l-look guys, I-I’m an SAO survivor, it’s, like, my duty to challenge another survivor in a fight, right? Right?

also today’s duel is one of the few rare matches where it’s Pitohui versus Bell one-on-one right? If I’m to be absolutely honest, under the condition that both players see each other (i.e can’t ambush) and that they’re fighting each other in singular melee combat, then I don’t think there’s anyone in GGO who can win against Bell

633: Anonymous Gamer

what about Subtilizer?

634: Anonymous Gamer

what about the photon sword girl?

635: Anonymous Gamer

what about, uh…

636: Anonymous Gamer

>>635

no need to force yourself if you can’t think of anyone, man…

637: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah Bell did lost against Subtilizer didn’t she

well I mean he’s… kind of an exception. And crazy. There’s even this another thread where people were debating if he’s an actual soldier or not too, so...

638: Anonymous Gamer

alright bellkeepers enough talking about her OPness. I wanna talk about today’s stream

639: Anonymous Gamer

bellkeepers?

640: Anonymous Gamer

it’s just a name to use to refer to Bell’s fans, I think

641: Anonymous Gamer

what, today’s stream? that Pitohui instakill match was too impressive I can’t remember anything else

642: Anonymous Gamer

well this stream was planned to be a killing Pitohui stream anyway, you’re forgiven

or actually maybe not

you’re not forgiven

643: Anonymous Gamer

here you go

bell_in_tears_after_failing_to_drive_buggy.mp4

644: Anonymous Gamer

doing god’s work here fam

645: Anonymous Gamer

thanks man

646: Anonymous Gamer

got something I think y’all could use

tissue.png

647: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah, where’d the manual transmission motorbike guy go?

648: Anonymous Gamer

gone. reduced to atoms

649: Anonymous Gamer

don’t just kill him off like that man

650: Anonymous Gamer

Bell goes for rare pistols like kids go for candies, I’m scared she might be kidnapped one day

651: Anonymous Gamer

you’ve just given me a idea

652: Anonymous Gamer

reported

653: Anonymous Survivor

Bell! If you see a man you don’t know telling you he has weird pistols at home, don’t listen, alright?! Just scream and run away!

654: Anonymous Gamer

eh she’s probably an adult, it’s fine

655: Anonymous Gamer

w-what do you mean it’s  _ fine _ ?

656: Anonymous Gamer

officer I swear she said she was an adult!!

657: Anonymous Gamer

poor girl, turned out the guns didn’t drop

looking at Bell’s sad face awakened something in me

658: Anonymous Gamer

apparently Pitohui did go to her home to deliver the guns, since I just saw Bell having a party on Twister a while ago. Also Pitohui was allowed into auctions again

659: Anonymous Gamer

is our peace in the auctions finally over…?! are we going to have to go through the damn bidding wars again?

how else am I ever going to get guns with Bell’s fingerprints to lick and sniff again?!?

660: Anonymous Gamer

>>659

yeah that’s absolutely reported

661: Anonymous Gamer

>>659

yes officer this guy right here

662: Anonymous Gamer

poor him, he’s lost his ability to distinguish between the virtual and reality...

663: Anonymous Survivor

I hope Bell goes to ALO

664: Anonymous Gamer

>>663

yeah me too. If she’s willing to play I wouldn’t mind buying her the discs 

665: Anonymous Gamer

>>664

let me guess, you’re middle-aged?

666: Anonymous Gamer

how do you know

667: Anonymous Gamer

no one uses discs nowadays you know

anyway I’m all for it if I can see loli fairy bell

668: Anonymous Gamer

why do you just assume her avatar will be loli? what’s wrong with a mature older sister avatar, huh?

with that said I love loli avatars too so whichever’s fine by me

669: Anonymous Gamer

sure is greedy aren’t you

wonder if she’ll actually play though. I heard that SAO’s Aincrad was just added to ALO recently, if she got traumatized by SAO then we can’t really force her

670: Anonymous Gamer

there’s quite a few survivors going back though you know? in fact I heard that the majority of players in ALO’s Aincrad are survivors 

671: Anonymous Gamer

they just got out of a death game and now they’re jumping right back in?

stockholm syndrome much?

672: Anonymous Gamer

honestly I have no idea how the VR game industry hasn’t already been obliterated with all the incidents that have been going on

not complaining though, it’s how we get to meet Bell after all

673: Anonymous Gamer

alright peeps it’s getting off topic, there’s a separate thread for general VR talk

674: Anonymous Gamer

I wanna see her do ordinal scale

675: Anonymous Gamer

she can’t stream that, her privacy’s gonna be out the window

676: Anonymous Gamer

way way worse than just a face reveal

677: Anonymous Gamer

speaking of which I haven’t seen Pitohui around

678: Anonymous Gamer

that’s unusual. did she go to see kanzaki elsa’s concert or something?

679: Anonymous Gamer

did YOU go?

680: Anonymous Gamer

can’t wait for the next stream

I pray for zeliska

ZELISKAAAAA

680: Anonymous Gamer

is  _ that  _ a pistol?

680: Anonymous Gamer

it absolutely is and no one will convince me otherwise


	10. Interlude: The First Meeting

PK. Player-killing.

In this unusual realm called SAO, one could call the act of player-killing to be the epitome of human evil.

About one year had passed. One year since the HP bar located on a corner of all players’ vision changed from being a simple countdown that told people how long they had left until they consumed one of their infinite lives, into an indicator of their own true remaining lifespan.

Kayaba Akihiko had spoken as a GM in the first day of service of the world’s first VRMMO: “This is a game, but it is not something you simply play.” And a year after, his words had become eerily true.

It was the time when the first killers appeared. People who took the life of other players not by an accident, but by their own will.

One year had been more than enough to drastically lowered a person’s inhibitions. Everything had begun with the dreadful killing of a small-scale guild, wherein all the guild’s members except for one had been murdered. The day after, the guild Laughing Coffin had announced their formation to the world of SAO, declaring themselves red players. 

They had thrown the first rock. And soon after, an avalanche began.

“If all your friends jump off a bridge, would you follow?” was, perhaps, a rather famous question, and for good reason — it was the essence of mob psychology. Laughing Coffin had become the first jumpers. Orange players who had been content with mere bullying and robbery now had their pioneers, and they soon began to be involved in PK activities. And when the top clearing guilds had then been forced to divert their capable personnel into suppressing PK activities, which had resulted in a visible slowdown in the progress of clearing castle Aincrad, things had gone from bad to worse: red players began to be more subtle and their methods more devious, like viruses mutating to resist the immune system. As a result, ‘safe’ town areas were no longer considered safe.

It had been a complete deadlock.

Of course, the game was still being cleared, but progress had been dying a slow death. Unity was of the essence, and yet infighting had seemed to be the likely end for SAO’s players, an end as terrible as could be.

Thankfully, it never came.

●

He was barely on his feet. His vision was swimming, having not slept for days on end. A voice tinged with pity was talking to him. He noticed the way the speaker was looking at him, and a thought passed through his mind. 

_ I must look like shit. _

The speaker was a man known among the midrank players as an info dealer. 

“If you’ve had someone dear to you murdered by a red player, if you hate them so much that you want to kill them, and if you don’t have the power to do so, then listen.”

Had he have someone dear to him killed?

Yes. She had been irreplaceable. She had been his beloved.

Did he hold such hatred that he’d want the killer dead?

Yes. He wanted them dead. She had been crying and screaming, hand stretched toward him, begging him to save her as they murdered her right in front of his eyes. While laughing.

Did he lack the power to do so himself?

...yes. He admitted it. He was weak. Just a middling player who had been leaving all the work of clearing the castle to others, while he and she spent their days enjoying some light adventuring. He had never even done a single PvP match, much less pointing a sword at someone else. Expecting to win against someone who must have done it time and time again? He could only dream of it.

But he couldn’t just do  _ nothing _ .

“Go to floor fifty. That’s where the current frontline is. And then do  _ exactly  _ what I’m about to tell you... no, you’re not going there to get the Clearers’ help or anything. Don’t even bother hoping. They’re far too occupied with figuring out how to clear this castle of iron, and most of them aren’t the type to lend an ear to the troubles of us peasant players anyway.”

The info dealer spat out, his tone making it quite clear that he was speaking from experience. He sat down on a barrel-type object placed on the roadside, took out an item that resembled a cigarette, and used it. After a long silence, the info dealer let loose a virtual puff of white smoke and glanced at the vengeful man. He spoke in resignation.

“I know your type. The type that still goes to pick the fight anyway, even if you know you’ll just die in vain… and judging from the look on your face, that’s a bingo. But the thing you have to realize is, all you’re doing is soothing your ego. Taking the easy way out. Committing suicide with the excuse that you’ve done it for whoever it is that you lost. So what I’m telling you here is,  _ leave it to a professional _ . I know one who will not fail to bring you the head of your target. This is good timing too — I heard she just moved. I’ll do the introductions for you.”

Hearing these words, the man was furious.  _ Are you telling me to ask a player-killer for help?  _ he growled, his hands grabbing the info dealer by the collar.  _ They killed her, and now you tell me to leave my vengeance to another one of their kind? _

The info dealer gave a pained smile and replied.

“...no. No, she’s closer to being one of us rather than one of them. Just a poor girl who’d had someone close to her taken away by PKers.”

Feeling that there was much, much more to the story than what the info dealer had said, the man released his hands. He stepped away to calm himself down and gave a short apology.

“Guess I’ll charge you some extra for the info, then,” the info dealer replied with a sarcastic smile. 

With theatrical gestures, he told the vengeful man what he needed to know.

Words that would forever change his fate.

“You’re looking for the only player-killer-killer in the entirety of Aincrad. An executioner whose judgement is reserved only for those rotten murderers. The Gravekeeper, player name Frenda. A lonely girl who lives in an abandoned village on the 50th floor.”

●

He came to the fiftieth floor.

Befitting of its status as the current frontline, the city Algade was bursting with Clearers and NPCs. He was struck by the impressive sight, then a deep anguish once he realized that never again would he be able to share it with her.

But he couldn’t stay rooted to the spot forever. He opened his inventory, confirming that he had the required  _ offerings _ that the info dealer said he would need to meet with the player named Frenda, and moved toward the southern area of the city.

He was lost within seconds. He asked a nearby NPC and acquired a guide in exchange for ten Col.  _ Thank goodness for that _ , he thought.

The location the info dealer told him about was a village so desolate that he could barely believe that it actually counted as a safe zone. It was about an hour’s travel away from the city. For an average player like him, the monsters appearing on the way might as well be midbosses, and he was forced to rely on the help of a nearby player — likely a Clearer — just to get there.

“It’s got absolutely nothing, why are you going there?” the (probable) Clearer asked him. 

He just smiled and avoided the question with a random excuse. The Clearer advised him to go down to a floor more suitable for his level. He said that he knows what he’s going into, and that he has a teleportation crystal just in case. The Clearer relented, if reluctantly.

Arriving at the village, he found that it truly had nothing at all. There were two NPCs with markers that denoted them as quest givers, but otherwise it only had a token inn and general store. Just the bare minimum of a safe zone.

_ “When you get there, look for a tombstone. She lives in the house next to it,” _ the info dealer had instructed. He searched around the village, but found no such house.

As he was circling the village outskirts, wondering where it could be, he was met with a sight he could barely believe.

“Finally found you, little bitch! Come on boys, time to avenge him!”

“YEAAHH!” “YAAAAH!!”

Just outside the village, a girl who looked barely of middle-school age was being surrounded by multiple orange players. Facing their roars, she just stood stock-still and said nothing. He thought she must be scared stiff.

All thoughts of his own vengeance instantly left his mind, to be replaced by a singular conviction.

_ I have to stop them. _

If the orange players were capable of operating outside the safe area of floor fifty, then his chances of victory was near non-existent. But if he struggled in full desperation, it should buy enough time for her to run inside the village, where it would be safe.

The fact that losing to criminals meant death didn’t even register to him. 

“WATCH OUT!” he thoughtlessly shouted at the top of his lungs. Without a moment of hesitation, he charged toward the group of orange players.

But reality was cruel. Or in this case, he was just being an idiot.

“Who’s this now?” One of the criminals growled.

“Out of our way, we’re on important business here!” Another yelled out, the mace in their hand swung haphazardly at him.

It hit.

“Argh-ack!” he choked and stumbled.

In this death game, the recommended level to safely survive a certain floor was the floor number plus ten. Following the simple formula, players on this floor were about level 60. Meanwhile, he was only level 36. Nearly half the recommended level. With such a stats difference, player skill was rendered near meaningless.

Hit by the casual swing of the orange player, he saw a large chunk of his HP rapidly dropped, accompanied by a cracking sound effect. 

_ Maybe this was a bad idea _ , he thought, strangely calm despite the situation.

But he knew he couldn’t not try to save the girl. He couldn’t just abandon her.

As he continued justifying himself in his mind, the mace-wielder began to deliver a second blow toward his head without hesitation. Looking at the weapon coming for him, the world felt like it was in slow-motion. The mace-wielder hadn’t hesitated a single bit, which meant that the criminals in front of him weren’t orange players, but red. This game only used the color green and orange for the player cursors, and so telling killers apart from petty criminals was surprisingly difficult.

He was going to die here. In vain, without even buying the time for the girl to escape. A wry smile appeared in his mind, mocking his uselessness, and he turned to look at the girl in an attempt to convey his apology.

In that moment, a gust of wind blew. Carrying with it the mace that was heading for him, as well as the arm attached to it. 

Blood-red damage effect splattered on his face, and utterances of shock came from the criminals. He looked back at his attacker to see what was going on, only to find them whimpering.

And for the first time, he heard the girl spoke.

“...you were obviously aiming to kill back then. Which means you’re red, not orange. Die, murderers.”

She was holding a short blade, a dagger, to the criminal’s neck.

“W-wait, hold on, I was just—”

“No excuses.”

Without a hint of mercy, she  _ pulled _ . The criminal’s head went flying.

He looked at the girl holding the blade. The girl whom he’d tried to save. The girl who had clear, pitch-black eyes, as though orbs of glass. The girl who had killed without a hint of hesitation.

The mace-wielder’s body dissipated into polygons. Having lost the person who had likely been their leader, the two remaining players panicked. They charged in wild abandon.

“Y-You murderer!!”

“Monster!”

They shouted, having apparently forgotten what they were here to do in the first place. Seemingly thinking the same thing, the girl only sighed. She slipped and weaved through their wild-but-numerous attacks, quickly bringing them into her reach, then pulled out a second dagger from her waist and thrusted both blades into their hearts. With a dull  _ thump _ from the impact, their metal chestplates were pierced through.

The two made pained noises. They tried to say something, only to have the daggers within them  _ twisted _ .

“Die,” she said curtly.

With their virtual hearts mangled, their health bars emptied in an instant.  _ Crack _ , rang out the sound of broken glass, and the red players disappeared in shattering polygons.

Everything had happened in mere dozens of seconds. Witnessing the overwhelmingly uneven slaughter in front of him, he did not feel revulsion.

He simply  _ understood _ .

_ “A lonely girl,” _ the info dealer had said.

It was true. She really was just a girl. No wonder why the info dealer had been so hesitant to talk about her. No one would want to. Everyone who came here and would come here to request a PKK were surely no different from him — wracked by guilt, but with a desire for vengeance so uncontrollable that they had no other choice but ask her, ask this girl to bear their sins for them.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, quietly holding out a hand for him.

He could barely believe this was the same girl who had been radiating such deadly bloodlust just moments ago.

“...yeah, sorry. I’m fine.”

He took her hand and stood up. Feeling her small hand in his, his guilt only intensified, but it still wasn’t enough to hold down the vengeful thoughts bubbling inside of him.

“Hey, miss Gravekeeper,” he spoke, “I’ve got something I need help with.”

He gave her the offerings, some rye bread bought from the first floor. She sucked in a breath, took the bread, and pulled up her hood to cover her head. She began walking toward the village.

After a short silence, she spoke.

“I got the message from the info dealer. Tell me details about the target. Player name too, if possible.”

“Right, got it… I’m sorry.”

He couldn’t help but to apologize. The Gravekeeper put on a faint smile and replied.

“Why are you apologizing? You don’t need to. I’m killing them because I like it.”

Her eyes told him otherwise.

So ended their first meeting.

One that marked the beginning of a long relationship between the player Hokkaiikura and Frenda, the Gravekeeper.

●

Hokka Iikura. The name of the man who had given her some rye bread. A signal that he had a job for her.

Whenever she didn’t have a request, she generally either stayed in the dungeons of the frontline or in this village, which meant there was no time for her to go get rye bread. As a former member of the Rye Bread Club, this was unacceptable. It was why she had told her acquainted info-dealers to tell whoever coming to her for requests to bring about one month’s worth of rye bread from the first floor. Assuming she ate three times a day, that’d be 3 col multiplied by 31 days, so 93 cols in total. 

She must be the cheapest killer for hire.

The two were sitting on a sofa in the village house she used as her base. Iikura was hanging his head low. She stared at him, not out of any particular reason other than that her eyes happened to be pointing that way, and spoke.

“So, tell me their appearance. Their player name would be fine too.”

She asked in order to narrow down her targets. She didn’t actually need him to remember the details — as long as his request checked out, she could just buy information from the dealers and then killed all the red players that resembled the info. But the last time she did that, one of the info dealers she knew gave her an earful over it, so it wasn’t a method she preferred. She wasn’t sure what the problem was — she’d be killing them anyway once she got confirmation that they were red players — but getting told off for it was annoying.

“His name was… ‘Savage’, I think. Mained a one-handed sword, probably. He used a kukri to… to kill her… Emi…!”

Iikura said, his teeth clenched, and he slammed an arm down on the table in front. Looking at the lamenting man, she could guess that the request this time was a  _ real  _ one.

Ever since that day, she’d been dedicating her life to killing red players. Doing PKK, in other words. In half a year, she’d redone her build, delved the dungeons to raise her skills, killed red players, and finally got to the average level of the Clearers. Her name had also spread among the general players through info-dealers, and she got more and more direct requests. Both actual requests and false ones.

Once, there had been a red player with a green cursor who sent her a request to kill a normal player. She dealt with them by telling them to go with her as she fulfill their ‘request’, hit them with paralysis poison, then killed them slowly. 

By staking their limbs with the iron spears she’d stocked up on.

Through their loud wailing and bawling, she got information on their allies. Then she proceeded to raid the red guild that had thought up this  _ absurd _ plan and killed them all.

All fools, the lot of them. They’d thought to make another kill in their stead, and then when it came their turn, they started crying and begging for forgiveness. Had they forgotten how their victims had cried just the same? How they had laughed as they murdered them? They took pleasure from killing, yet they couldn’t even imagine the possibility of the same thing happening to them?

Incorrigible.

“‘Savage’... hmm…” she muttered.

“She wouldn’t have died if only I was stronger… if only…”

As she listened to his whispered grief, she sent a message to an info dealer, but not the person who had contacted her about Iikura. Instead, the one she was messaging was an eccentric girl who’d chosen to go into the shady line of work that was info trading despite being, like her, one of the few female players in SAO. The message comprised of simply two words: ‘Savage, kukri knife’. Just a few minutes later, a reply came, accompanied with a beep.

The info dealer worked fast, just like always. As she said it,  _ “For information, freshness is king!” _ .

“I found him. Player name: Savage. Belongs to the orange guild ‘Hunting’. No reports of any killing yet until now, so you were probably their first victims,” Frenda said.

Iikura swung his arm violently, his roiling emotions having nowhere else to go. His hand was stopped by a purple-colored surface, cold and unfeeling. She understood him all too well.

_ Why did it have to be us? _

_ Why were they killing? _

_ Why couldn’t it have been me instead? _

She stayed silent. She knew, more than anyone else, that nothing she says could soothe him. Time spent speaking empty comforts was wasted time, time that could better be used to kill the murderers and bring closure, for those who had gone and those who remained. 

This was her vow.

“I’ll do it. It’ll probably take about a day. During that time, do NOT leave this house,” she said.

“W-wait, you’re going already?!”

“Yes. The faster they’re dead, the better.”

She left Iikura behind and headed outside, closing the door. First, she’d need to talk to the info dealer and get the intel. The guild Hunting was harboring a red player, and they’d be her target as well. No harm in snipping killers in the bud.

And so she began another hunt. 

Exacting retribution for another in name, when in truth it was just for her.

  
●

Algade, the city on the 50th floor of Aincrad, bustling and full of life due to its status of being the frontline. The city resembled an enormous flea market: diverse, or less charitably described, a sprawling mess. Despite being a safe zone, its labyrinthian streets, alleys, and cul-de-sacs had entrapped many players in much the same way dungeons did.

In a corner of this city lay an NPC-run restaurant, within which two dark shadows were sitting. One had her hood pulled low, and on each side of her cheeks were three distinctive lines of facepaint. The other was a girl in an apron dress who looked like she came straight out of a fairy tale.

The two were Argo the Rat, an information dealer, and Frenda the Gravekeeper, the only PKKer in the entirety of SAO. Two people with far too many secrets to walk in broad daylight, but it was also exactly why they had chosen to meet up here. As they planned it, hide a tree in a forest.

“So that’s why ya came to me, then.”

The first to speak was Argo. Weariness and disbelief was plain to see on her expression as she stared at Frenda.

“I need information about Savage and the orange… no,  _ red  _ guild ‘Hunting’. Whatever your price, I’ll pay it.”

Frenda replied dispassionately, unfazed by Argo’s gaze. Her face stayed impassive as she opened up a trade window and showed it to Argo. The info dealer immediately turned pale. She growled at Frenda, her pain evident.

“Jus’ a minute there, Fren. Ya mean to say you’ll kill  _ all  _ of Hunting?”

“What’s the problem with that?” Frenda replied without skipping a beat, “They’re harboring a red player. Which means it won’t be long until they’re all red. Isn’t it better to stop them before they start killing?”

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in her words. It made Argo furious.

“Ain’t a  _ problem _ ?! Are ya aware they’re still considered an orange guild to info dealers?! They  _ haven’t  _ killed yet! Killing ‘em all would make ya jus’ another red player, do ya  _ know  _ that?!”

“Yes, I do. So what?”

Argo was struck silent.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re Laughing Coffin or not. I’ve been a red player ever since the first time I killed. Besides, it takes  _ victims _ for them to be considered a red guild, and it won’t be just a few. Someone’s already dead. Are you telling me to wait until they killed some more? Is that what you’re saying? To  _ me _ ?”

“...ahh, right… got it. Sorry. I misjudged ya.”

Even that hadn’t been enough to convince Frenda. As an info dealer, Argo had stayed impartial in all aspects of her SAO life. A stance she had gone against for Frenda’s sake, but it still wasn’t enough.

The girl was already far too broken.

“Here, the intel ya want. No payment necessary. Ain’t like I don’t care about red players at all, you know? It’s why I gather information, why I sell ‘em without their consent.”

“...I see,” Frenda replied, seemingly oblivious to Argo’s monologue, “Thanks. Here, a token of my gratitude.”

“...really is just a token, huh.”

Argo said, a tired smile on her face as she looked at the rye bread appearing in the trade window Frenda offered.

With the trade done, Frenda left the restaurant without eating a single bite. Argo looked at her, and a whisper slipped out.

“Saya wouldn’t have wanted this, Tomo.”

Her words dissipated in the air. The small girl was already long gone.

●

The orange guild Hunting had their base on floor 22, a floor famour for having no noticeable landmarks, only tranquil meadows and forests. Uniquely, it was also a floor with no monsters spawning, and so the audacious guild had placed their camp in the literal center of the field.

Fortunately, most players on floor 22 were leisurely spending their days in the city, which was the reason why there hadn’t been any reports of PK happening. But it was only a matter of time before that changed. She needed to eliminate the guild as soon as possible to protect them, among other reasons.

The massacre began.

Her thrown chakram sliced off the head of one of the watchmen, and a surprise attack from stealth dealt with the other while they were still frozen in shock.

“Ack-GAAAAAAHH!!” “Marco! No! You murderer!”

“...ridiculous,” she muttered.

What followed was a one-sided slaughter. Unable to comprehend the deaths happening in front of them, the orange players were stuck in stupor until their heads were mercilessly reaped. Those who screamed and tried to run would be hit by knives coated in paralysis poison and pinned to the spot by spear-type weapons. In the blink of an eye, a guild of over a dozen had lost 80% of their members.

The remaining players charged at the girl in their rage, but to her, a player who had lived and breathed in the dungeons of the frontline, their attacks might as well be the flailing of children. A one-handed sword came down on her. She parried with a lazy upswing of her dagger and with the Martial Arts skill, visited a brutal strike on her opponent’s heart. The arm of a young girl pierced through their virtual body, turning it into fragments of polygons.

“What the hell are you?! What the hell are you doing?!! What have we done to deserve this?!”

One of the guild members cried out in their panic.

“Well, you’re criminals, aren’t you?” Frenda flatly answered. “The orange cursors on top of your heads are undeniable proof.”

“So what?! We still haven’t kil-”

“Yes, and I’m killing you before you do. One of you have already killed anyway. I’m here on behalf of the victim to take vengeance.”

“Wha…? Then why are you killing us?! We’ve got nothing to do with it! Why???”

“But sooner or later you’re going to kill people, aren’t you?”

She spoke, her voice tranquil, her expression one of puzzlement as though she couldn’t understand why they were asking something  _ so  _ obvious. Another guild member who had sunken down on the floor let loose a whisper.

“You’re mad…”

After a short silence, she answered.

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

She swung her dagger, once, then twice, watching impassively as two heads rolled on the floor and shattered.

Then instincts warned her of killing intent, a tingling that she felt was aimed at her neck. She immediately turned around and thrusted the same dagger that she had just used backward.

“Ah.”

The surprised utterance had come from a boy, a child, whose abdomen was ran through by her dagger.

“A kid…” she muttered.

The boy’s hands had been holding a mace up high, ready to swing down on her. On top of his head was an orange-colored cursor.

The sound of glass shattering rang out. Seemingly undisturbed by his age, she pulled out her dagger, slicing him apart and spraying crimson damage effect outward. She swung again, stabbing the dagger into his half-open mouth and through his virtual brain, instantly killing him.

As far as she could see, the orange guild Hunting was completely eliminated… all except for one.

“Hiding until all your friends are dead? Callous, aren’t you?” she asked.

“You’re one to talk, madwoman.”

The reply was spat out by a rugged-looking man who had just revealed himself. In his hand was a kukri knife, a blade with a distinctive curve. Savage, the target of Iikura’s request. He glared at Frenda, his eyes sharply carefully watching her every move.

Frenda faced him, showing no signs of being affected by his remark.

“So you’re Savage. The name really suits you.”

“And what about you,  _ Frenda _ ?” Savage smirked, “you called yourself a ‘friend’ when what you do is no different from us. Killing a kid? Some of us aren’t even that horrible.”

The kukri knife spun and flipped in his hands, its keen blade slicing through the air. 

“...I see,” Frenda said, for the first time showing an emotional response to his words, “‘us’, you say. You’re not in Hunting, are you?”

“Ooh, aren’t you a sharp one. Indeed, I’m not like these… wait, you’ve already killed them all. Anyway, I’m not like those weaklings. The tiny guild couldn’t even do MPK. I mean, sure I technically  _ did _ join them, I just didn’t bother wasting my time with all the ‘camaraderie’ and ‘friendship’ bullshit, that’s all. It’s my test, you see.”

“A test, you say?”

The words immediately put Frenda into high alert. Her eyes darted around, but she saw no one else. Her maxed-out Searching skill found nothing else as well. An ambush was unlikely.

“That’s right. The test is to make them kill another player, whether by MPK or any other method. Simple, isn’t it?”

“Was that why you attacked Iikura and Emi? To make an example?”

“Hmm? Aah, that irritating couple? First time I knew their names.”

Seeing Savage’s irreverence, Frenda’s eyes narrowed for a fraction. He noticed her reaction and spoke in amusement.

“Oh, what’s this? Did that trigger your sense of justice? Getting mad?”

“No, not really. It’s not something to get angry over.”

“Aww, you’re not mad? But I am. You’ve pissed all over my test, you damn brat.”

Savage stopped twirling the kukri knife. He gripped it tight and readied the weapon, the blade slicing through the air. Light began to gather around it to signal the beginning of a Sword Skill, a power granted to all humanoid characters that lived in this castle of iron, and afterward came a shrill howl to intimidate the enemy.

“Ready your weapon, brat. I don’t care what you came here for, I’m gonna make you regret ever messing with me!”

Savage bursted forward as though thrown by an invisible hand.

Moving at a speed unthinkable for a man so large, Savage swung the kukri machete, the blade coated in blue light swooping down on Frenda, who still had not yet made any overt response. Fad Edge, a four-hit Sword Skill in the Dagger category. An attack no normal person could follow with their bare eyes.

It hit nothing but air.

“You’re weak,” Frenda said.

“...what?” uttered Savage in surprise.

It felt like he was swinging at a phantom. A closer look revealed that she had not moved her upper body at all — it was nothing more than her footwork that had put her out of harm’s way.

As Savage was stuck in the Post-Motion, she began to calmly point out flaws in his attack.

“You rely too much on the system assist. A Sword Skill done without any of your own body’s movements is just  _ easy  _ to handle. You should be trying to get all four hits to hit the same spot, at the very least.”

“D-Damn you! Stop fucking with me!” Savage roared in hurt pride.

Released from the paralysis, he unleashed another Sword Skill. This time, it was the eight-hit Sword Skill in the Dagger category, Accel Raid. A light even brighter than before covered the kukri as it shot toward the girl…

“I told you, stop relying on the system.”

...and his arm was sliced off.

Red damage effect sprayed out like a fountain. Without a hand to hold it, the kukri knife dropped and embedded itself into the ground.

She had countered his Sword Skill, despite the extreme speed he had been moving in. A feat that could only be possible if she knew exactly how he was going to move. Witnessing a scene that, to Savage, seemed to be taken straight from a nightmare, he recalled what the proctor had told him before his test.

_ “Oh yes, I nearly forgot. If by any chance you met with the Gravekeeper, then consider your test over. Aah, no, not because you’ll immediately pass or fail. The test is over because you’d be dead by then.” _

“Y-You’re the Gravekeeper?!” He shouted.

“...unbelievable. You didn’t even know me? Apparently I’m still not a good enough deterrence, then.”

His descending HP. The proctor’s words. The incomprehensible girl in front of him. All of it combined to erase the last vestige of sanity in him. The whimpering man then took the worst possible option available to him.

He tried to escape with a teleportation crystal.

Savage was an orange player. If he succeeded in teleporting back to the city, the guardian NPCs would kill him. If he failed, there would be nothing else to save him from the Gravekeeper’s worst.

“AAAAAAAHH!! Teleport, Ralb-”

“Like I’d let you.”

With crystal still in hand, his arm was severed from his body. 

Despite the loss of two limbs, the man still lived, likely due to his high level. Unfortunately for Savage, it only lengthened his terror. All hope of escape was gone. The only thing he could do was shiver uncontrollably.

Frenda talked to him, her voice as flat as always.

“Is it Laughing Coffin’s ‘test’ that you were talking about?”

“Y-yes! That’s right!” Savage answered in desperation, “It’s Laughing Coffin! So don’t ki—”

“Thank you.”

And it was in that moment, that moment alone, that Savage saw a smile coming from the bottom of her heart. 

Through vision blurred by virtual tears, he thought her smile was so beautiful.

Within the copse of trees, glass shattered.

●

The next day, she reported back to Iikura, who was still waiting at the base.

After confirming the death of Savage on the monument at the Black Iron Palace on the 1st floor, Iikura took Frenda’s small hands in his as he blubbered words of gratitude, over and over again.

“Thank you… thank you so much…!!”

“...you don’t need to be  _ that _ grateful, you know? You already paid me in rye bread anyway.”

“How can I ever pay you back for this…”

“Uh, are you listening?”

Frenda was getting a bit exasperated.

“You’re still just a kid… and I… I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“Wait, just hold on a minute—”

“If only I was stronger… I wouldn’t have had to rely on someone as young as you…”

“Can you fucking  _ listen _ ?!”

_ Thwack _ , came Frenda’s fist on his head. With quite an amount of force too, at that. Iikura blinked and looked at her.

“Apparently you’re misunderstanding something here. I’m twenty-five years old this year, okay?”

“... **really** ? ”

In his incredulity, Iikura subconsciously uttered in English.

“Yes, really. Also you’ve got good pronunciation there, Iikura.”

He calmed himself down and took a closer look at Frenda.

Silky black hair. 

Bouncy cheeks. 

Delicate limbs. 

Teensy-weensy in height. 

Clad in a pastel-colored apron dress.

Dead eyes, like cold orbs of glass.

“Twenty five years old when you look like  _ that _ ? No way! No how!”

“Yes way. I am absolutely twenty-five. How else do I play this game?”

“You’re lying, right? You’re actually thirteen, right? In fact thirteen still sounds  _ way  _ too old for you!”

“Can you please get it into your head already, Iikura? I am an adult. I have a  _ job _ .”

“Impossible! ...actually, who is this Iikura you’ve been saying since a while ago?”

“Isn’t that you? Hokka Iikura?”

“No! My name’s Hokkai Ikura!”

Pity. Sympathy. Hostility.

People had only ever looked at her with such eyes ever since that day, and she’d grown used to it. It had been so, so long since she had had a normal conversation like the one she was having with Iikura at the moment. 

How will this chance meeting change her?

“I’m Ikura! One ‘I’!”

“Got it. Anyway, it’s time for me to go. Farewell, Iikura.”

Nobody yet knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Translator's Notes** : Be warned: there are spoilers for later chapters in the following Author’s Notes. Tread carefully, or just don’t read at all just to be safe.
> 
>  **Author’s Notes:**  
>  It’s an absolute mess, but that’s nothing new for me.
> 
> Character introduction:
> 
> Frenda (currently Bell)  
>  The OC character that serves as the main character for this fic. Has a past heavier than lead. The Terminator of player-killers. Also Terminator of criminal guilds that has player-killers. Had she known about Kuradeel, then Knights of the Blood would have been in actual, serious danger.
> 
> Hokkai Ikura (survivorfag)  
>  Even the author sometimes call him Iikura. A canon character (but is pretty much an OC here). Met his lover in SAO who was then killed, and then got to know Frenda when he tried to put out a hit on the killer. Has Usujio Tarako as a relative, who later died in GGO’s Death Gun incident. Hey Frenda, there’s a job for you!  
>  Also after his first meeting, he somehow shows up in a lot of SAO’s murder scenes, and so naturally he started getting familiar with Frenda and the Trade Union, a large-scale crafting guild who backed her up. Also joins the guild itself later on.
> 
> Savage  
>  One of the PKers who exist in this fic only to be killed. R.I.P the poor guy.
> 
> Kid who got destroyed by Frenda  
>  Has already killed one person due to Savage’s instigation, so no problem! For the sake of the future, die!
> 
> PoH  
>  The guildmaster and the proctor’s superior. Left Frenda alive for the 100% scumbag reason that “It’d be interesting if she turns out to be a vengeful PKK later on”. A conflict lover all right. Overwhelming shittiness. Has a smile that just gets bigger and bigger as the Gravekeeper’s infamy grows.
> 
> SPOILER ALERT
> 
> Is unaware that during the Underworld’s final load test he’d meet up with Frenda (Bell), who would convert her avatar on exactly the day of the War of the Underworld by sheer coincidence. Would then become the victim of her Incarnated bloodlust and meet with a fate worse than just being killed normally in the real world.
> 
> END SPOILER ALERT
> 
> Johnny Black  
>  The proctor. Was rather traumatized by Frenda after SAO ends. Started killing in real world to calm himself down. Had already realized that she’s streaming under the name Bell, and was trying to gain information of her real home.  
>  But that was actually a part of Bell’s plan. If he had tried to attack her at her home, he would have met with a fate worse than being thrown into a wood chipper.  
>  Better say thanks to Kirito! He saved you, you know?
> 
> Argo  
>  Has more frequent contact with Frenda than most other info dealers, and so suffers from a lot of stress. Also knows Bell (the original) and Frenda in real life. Falls into angst every time she sees broken Frenda.
> 
> **2nd Translator's Notes** : The name Tomo can be a reading for the word “friend”. 


	11. World War Littlegirls ~ Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So I got a comment saying that “Knights of the Blood in danger = Asuna dead”, but it’s not like that. The most Frenda would do is storm the guild’s HQ and check all the members for Laughing Coffin tattoos (by whatever means necessary), then kill anyone who has it, green or orange cursors be damned.  
> Also it would mean the guild would gain the ‘achievement’ of “having PK players despite being a clearing guild”. In Frenda’s own personal ranked system of PK-ness, that would raise them to C-rank (guild members aren’t yet targets, but the PK players will be killed and the rest monitored). Lucky them!
> 
> Also, another comment says “She’s killing the fuck out of other players too, not just PKers!” but no. Frenda’s just killing players whom _she sees as red players._  
>  Which is to say that Grimlock of Golden Apple would be guilty, while Schmitt, Yolko, and Caynz would not. She’d be pissed at Yolko and Caynz for being unnecessarily suspicious, though. Also, she considers the Divine Dragons Alliance to be “dangerous people since for a period of time they were completely willing to go orange, but they are Clearers, so I won’t kill them all until I get info that they’ve actually killed.” Unlike Hunting, she wouldn’t actively attack them.  
> On a related note, the killing of Kuradeel by Kirito and Asuna would have put an enormous grin on Frenda’s face if she knew about it. She’d probably ask to shake their hands too. The ruthless killing of a player who had committed PK right in front of one’s eyes is a thing to be celebrated!

It was dusk. Llenn was running at top speed on the shifting sands.

“Hyah-wah-waitwaitwait!”

Clad in pink combat clothes with pink ammunition pouches hanging on her hips and a pink P90 in hand, Llenn ran, tripping over herself to get away from the scary gunshots sounding out behind her.

On a whim, she had logged into GGO, going outside of town to hunt monsters and players. But just as she was returning to SBC Glocken, suddenly, she was shot from behind.

“M-miss Pito?! Don’t you think this joke might have gone a liiitle too far?!!”

Llenn screamed, all the while sprinting at a speed no normal human could reach. She found a lonely boulder sitting in the middle of the desert and immediately slid into its shadow. 

As soon as she did, she readied her P90 in order to retaliate against her mysterious attacker (who was probably Pitohui anyway), the girl showing no signs of her previous desperation.

The boulder she found was wide. Just the right size to hide Llenn’s small avatar, one that was rarely seen in a game full of macho men and buff women.

She thought she was safe.

Until she heard a sound that reminded her of a certain order of knights in a galaxy far, far away.

“...huh?”

Llenn’s health bar dropped like a rock, its color changing from green to yellow, then red. What looked like a rod of pale-blue light was growing out of her abdomen.

“...who?” she asked.

“Nothing personal, little pinkie. This is for my Pfeifer Zeliska.”

“No, seriously, who are you?”

Llenn turned around, trying to see her assailant, but behind her was only the boulder. The voice had come from the other side, a voice just as high-pitched as her own.

A girl’s voice. Yet the only female GGO players she knew were five people from SHINC, Pitohui, and Fukaziroh. She had no idea who this was.

The rod of light still inside her abdomen wiggled left and right, annihilating what was left of Llenn’s HP. Strength left her legs and her petite body dropped to the side, bringing her head outside of the boulder’s shadow and allowing her to see her killer.

It was a girl the same size as she was, wearing an outfit with many,  _ many  _ frills, as though a character taken from a fairytale and dropped into an entirely different world.

Five hundred meters away from the scene of the PK, there lay a towering boulder. On top of it was a shadow who had been watching Llenn through a pair of binoculars, witnessing from start to finish how she had died from being skewered by a photon sword, boulder and all.

The shadow was Pitohui.

To her side was M, vigilantly watching for nearby threats with his favorite M14 EBR in hands.

“Hmm... yeah, going after her with no plans wouldn’t work, as I thought,” Pitohui muttered.

She swiped her arm to call up the menu and sent a message to a person on her friend list.

The recipient’s name was Bell. The content of the message was as followed:

_ "Confirmed objective completion. _

_ As agreed upon, I will give you the Pfeifer Zeliska that dropped for me the other day. _

_ The transaction will be done in the usual bar in SBC Glocken. _

_ Also I apologize for hoarding the auctions, so stop yo-yoing me in and out of the blacklist every single time already. Please." _

And so it was, that a certain PK became the beginning of another story.

●

“The Pfeifer Zeliska is finally mineeeeee!”

_ “hello” _ _   
_ _ “hi” _ _   
_ _ “wow eldritch pistol right off the bat” _ _   
_ _ “?!” _ _   
_ _ “fuck yeaaaa” _ _   
_ _ “grats” _ _   
_ _ “so, opinion?” _ _   
_ _ “it’s so… big…” _ _   
_ _ “can bell even equip this?” _ _   
_ _ “wait wait wait” _

“No probs, no probs. I can totally use it. Look.”

_ “uh, are you okay? you’re getting the shakes” _ _   
_ _ “cuteeee” _ _   
_ _ “lol nobody even comment on the clothes” _ _   
_ _ “smol smol hands” _ _   
_ _ “we’ve got a hand fetishizer here, get ‘em!” _ _   
_ _ “in tiny Bell’s hands the Zeliska looks even bigger than it already is. Yes. That’s certainly where my eyes are looking at and nowhere else” _ _   
_ _ “oh god my diabetes” _

So anyway, it had been around two weeks since Pitohui picked a fight with me and I absolutely wrecked her shit.

She recently gave me another mission to go kill a little pink kid whom I felt like I must have met  _ somewhere _ , though I couldn’t recall. As the reward for the mission, I acquired the gun I’d long since dreamed of: Pfeifer Zeliska, the gun said to be the most powerful handgun in the world. Made by the Austrian manufacturer Pfeifer Waffen, the enormous revolver had a length of 550mm, height of 210mm, and a maximum width of 69mm. A monster that weighed a whole 6.0kg. Within GGO, the gun required a  _ ridiculous _ amount of stats to wield despite being a handgun, causing it to be known as ‘the cannon best left on a wall’. Even I barely reached the required stats. Out of all the handguns I’d ever held, it was by far the heaviest.

But nothing… oof… can be as heavy as… hnnn... my love for the Zeliska!

Also known as the Handgun of Giants, the cartridge it used was also a massive deviation from normal pistol ammunition: it could shoot either .600 Nitro Express or .458 Winchester Magnum rounds, which were usually used in large bore magnum rifles to shoot  _ elephants _ . The .600 N.E. cartridge, in particular, held  _ five times  _ the energy of a shot from the famous Desert Eagle.

No normal-sized pistol could handle the force of the aforementioned cartridges, which was why the Zeliska was so absurdly enormous. The designers had been so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. Oh well, I couldn’t fault them for following their dreams.

“So anyway, I’m thinking maybe I’ll use this Zeliska to hunt in today’s stream.”

_ “wait bell we have a question” _ _   
_ _ “yes! what is that absolutely adorable getup?! you look extra cute today!” _ _   
_ _ “I can go for weeks on that apron dress” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “tldr: lolfag has joined the battle” _ _   
_ _ “that’s not a tldr, that’s the whole thing” _

“...right. Of course you’d be curious about this…” I sighed, “it’s actually a present.”

Everyone’s gotten much too used to my obsession with pistols. They didn’t even go for the viewer bait that was the Zeliska, instead asking about a topic I didn’t really want to talk about.

My clothes.

I wasn’t wearing the tracksuit-ish outfit that I usually used as my loungewear, but a very frilly pastel-colored apron dress. The sort of fashion that could not look any more out of place in a game like this. It looked very good on an avatar as childish as mine, but considering where it came from, I didn’t exactly want to wear this…

...but oh well. It was the one present that I  _ had  _ to wear, no matter how much I hated it.

“Umm, so do you guys know Ashley? I’m told he’s quite famous in real life as well, but I don’t know if you know him.”

_ “that motherfucker did it again!!” _ _   
_ _ “heyyy survivorfag” _ _   
_ _ “that famous seamster who has his own fashion brand?!” _ _   
_ _ “ashley’s a survivor… hold on a minute…” _ _   
_ _ “wait wasn’t he a lolicon…?” _

“Umm, yes, that’s the right Ashley. So some time ago, about one day after the day I fought with Pitohui, he just barged into my player home and shouted  _ “You need better clothes!!”  _ and gave me this dress…”

_ “cryptid” _ _   
_ _ “ohhh yeahh, I did see Ashley being introduced as a weirdo on TV the other day…” _ _   
_ _ “what the hell Ash, why’d you send her something so frilly and impractical?!  _ _ good work please I want some more _ _ ” _ _   
_ _ “I’m lovin’ it” _ _   
_ _ “lewddd” _

On a side note, my player home was apparently rather easy to find for the viewers who recognized the area, and so Pitohui, Ashley, and some other GGO players who watched me came to visit from time to time whenever I was off-stream. Just in case, I did ask them to keep the information to themselves since I didn’t want to deal with stalkers, but sometimes I wondered how many people actually knew the place already.

“Where the heck did Ashley grind his skills? Seriously. Can you imagine that this apron dress isn’t just comfortable, it’s actually  _ combat-rated _ ? It’s got pretty much the same stats as the combat clothes I’ve been using until now… in fact it’s even a little bit better.”

_ “srsly? _ _   
_ _ “4real?” _ _   
_ _ “an outfit that picks a fight with the whole fashion scene in GGO” _

Yup. The worst thing about this was that Ashley’s clothes were also top-tier armor. He’s a perv, but his skills were the real deal. His armor had saved my life more than just a few times.

“So yeah, until I find better armor than this apron dress, I’m going to keep using this for my streams.”

_ “PERFECT” _ _   
_ _ “Ash is my god now” _ _   
_ _ “what if after Bell finds some better armor, Ash just makes an even better set of frilly clothes” _ _   
_ _ “the possibility’s there, and that’s what makes Ash so terrifying” _ _   
_ _ “that is the most wonderful idea I have ever heard” _

“...can we stop here? Talking about this is really embarrasing, you know?”

_ “I’m die thank you forever” _ _   
_ _ “oh god my heart” _ _   
_ _ “gotta AFK for a few mins” _ _   
_ _ “here, some tissue paper for you” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “cuteeee” _

...apparently my viewers were all pervs too. Iikura? I kept him on close watch too since he’d shown some lolicon tendencies. Source: me.

I fixed the camera viewpoint to behind my back and put the Zeliska into my inventory, the gun being too large for the holster on my waist. Then I took out my lovely CZ 75 SP-1 and put it into the holster disguised as a pocket on my apron. There, preparations complete… that was fast. It was convenient how I didn’t have to change into another outfit, unlike before. 

I liked this dress. Wouldn’t ever say it to Ashley’s face, though.

“And now it’s time to go murder some poor monster! People are fine too, I’m not picky.”

_ “DUN dundududun dun dun DUN” _ _   
_ _ “DUN DUN DUDUN dun duDUN dun duDUN” _ _   
_ _ “khhh… schhhh…” _ _   
_ _ “that counts as a holster?!” _ _   
_ _ “a very ‘practical’ fairy tale dress” _

As my viewers made merry in the chat, I headed toward the field with my spanking new equipment.

I left SBC Glocken’s main street, at times responding and reacting to the scrolling comments, and entered a desert map. The sand was a searing pink, a color that I didn’t think existed in any real life deserts. Might be a way for the designers to show how this game was set in the near-future.

“All right, our prey today woul—”

Before I could finish my words, my HP bar was blasted into smithereens.

...what the?

●

Some time ago.

A girl with black hair in braids reached out for a chocolate cracker sandwich with cream filling. She muttered, her head adorably tilted to the side in puzzlement.

“A girl as small as your Llenn avatar in GGO, Karen?”

Her name was Nitobe Saki. A student of a high school affiliated with a prestigious girls’ university in Tōkyō, as well as the leader of the rhythmic gymnastics club.

Saki took a small bite out of the crunchy cracker. “This is good,” she murmured, and turned to look at the tall woman sitting next to her.

“And it’s not your friend Fukaziroh?” she asked.

“That’s right! Her avatar was about as small as mine. She just suddenly showed up and cut me with a sword! A sword! In GGO!!”

The excited answer was given by the owner of this room, a woman who had called up the gymnastic club to listen to her story. Kohiruimaki Karen.

A woman 183cm in height, which put her taller than even quite a few men, the avatar she used within GGO was instead absolutely tiny. Her favorite gun was the P90, a weapon that had made swiss cheese out of many of her opponents.

But one day, as she was just going PK-ing and hunting as usual, a mysterious player with an avatar of a little girl had suddenly shown up and attacked her, then finally killing her with a  _ sword _ despite GGO being a game of guns and bullets. The blade that had killed her hadn’t been a knife but a kind of weapon unfamiliar to her, and the next day she had called the gymnastics club, who didn’t have any activities for the day, up to her room to ask about the weapon and the wielder.

“Hmm, well, I  _ do _ have an idea of who it might be…” Saki hesitantly said.

“Really?!”

Karen immediately jumped on her reply. Setting aside the faint nervousness that came from being approached by someone 30cm taller than her, Saki turned and sent eye contact to the rest of the club.

_ What to do?  _ she silently asked.

_ Why don’t you just tell her?  _ came the eyes of Saki’s best friend, a girl with straight hair reaching her shoulders, Fujisawa Kana.

_ Yeah this sounds interesting, just let it rip!  _ came the eyes of a boyishly handsome girl, Kusunoki Risa.

_ It is technically private information, however. Is it fine?  _ came the worried eyes of a girl with an air of gentleness about her, Annaka Moe.

_ What’s there to worry about?  _ came the optimistic eyes of a girl whose features was shaped like a Japanese doll, Noguchi Shiori.

_ I like the seaweed _ , came an absolutely unrelated message from the only Russian in the room, Milana Sidorova, her shoulder-length blond, wavy hair sprawling on the table as she nibbled on a piece of flavored seaweed in contentment. Saki sent her an exasperated look and turned back to Karen.

“Right, so Karen, do you know about a GGO game streamer named ‘Bell’?” she asked.

“Bell?” Karen repeated, perplexed.

“Yes, Bell.”

“She streams on platforms like Yotube or Niccori Douga,” Kana added, “and she has a lot of archived videos too. Look.”

Kana deftly clicked on the smartphone in her hand, opening a video-sharing site and showed it to Karen. Titled “Pistol of the Day”, the channel was the very same one that Bell streamed on. The video displayed a player that Karen had seen before, running on a desert that Karen was familiar with, and fighting a creature that resembled an enormous earthworm.

“Yes, that’s her!” Karen said in recognition, “ooh, so this is what she’s been doing.”

“She’s pretty famous in the streaming scene. A well-known expert among a small subset of GGO players,” one of the club members explained.

“She’s famous for playing with pistols only, and some even says she’s the top pistol user in the whole game,” another added.

“I see…” Karen muttered, then tilted her head in confusion, “wait, didn’t she kill me with a sword?”

Indeed. When Karen had been attacked in GGO, her avatar, Llenn, had been pierced through and cut apart by something that looked like a blade of light. Far from the fighting style of what a handgun-only player would use.

“Umm, well, about that…”

“She has a pistol she preferred called the CZ 75,” Kana cut in to explain, “which she’s customized. It had a photon sword attached as a bayonet.”

“Photon sword?” Karen asked.

“Basically a lightsaber.”

“I see… no wait, really?! Can you even call that a pistol?”

“IT’S A PISTOL.” 

“Yes ma’am,” Karen reflexively said and turned away, finding herself unable to look the club member in the eyes. She thought she saw Kana’s pupils swirling like whirlpools as though gateways to a terrible dimension no man was meant to know, and within Karen grew a faint seed of fear toward this streamer named Bell.

Karen continued watching the archived video. Mid-way through, she noticed a very familiar name.

“There’s miss Pito’s name here!” she exclaimed.

“Ah, yes. Pitohui shows up in a few of Bell’s videos… mostly to pick fights with her, really,” Kana replied, a strange look on her face.

Not quite catching Kana’s undertones, Karen thought simply,  _ miss Pito never changes, does she,  _ and she set aside a moment of prayer for the streamer she’d only exchanged a few words with. Knowing how…  _ unstable _ Pitohui could be, she sympathized with Bell for being her target of attention, and that was enough for Karen to feel a hint of camaraderie with the streamer.

But Kana’s next words instantly blew it away.

“Well, Pitohui would lose in a one-on-one fight, actually.”

“Wait, she loses?!” Karen exclaimed in shock.

“Yes. Challenging Bell with an entire squadron aside, the last time Pitohui fought her in a duel, she lost completely.”

“Wow!”

To Karen, Pitohui was about the same or better than the six members of SHINC in front of her, and she would even go so far as to say that Pitohui was one of the best among the GGO players she knew. Karen had been constantly winning until now, but all of them had been hard-fought victories that she’d gained only by making use of all that she had. 

Meanwhile, Bell had won without breaking a sweat. It piqued her curiosity.

Karen then spoke to Saki, who was watching Bell’s videos on Kana’s phone.

“Speaking of which, what would happen if everyone in SHINC have a match with her...?”

The little girl on the screen was moving at a dizzying speed, jumping all over the place as she battled an antlion-type field boss in GGO.

“Hmm…” Saki hesitantly answered, her eyes still watching the screen, “my guess would be that we’d win if we challenged her as SHINC. Pretty sure.”

“I see… hmm? Hmm…?” Karen muttered, unsure how to take that answer. 

Seeing her confusion, Milana added as she nibbled on another piece of seaweed.

“Karen, what she means is that we can win if we fight her six-on-one with our level of cooperation.”

“...eh?” Karen uttered, dumbfounded, her eyes wide open as she processed the information. _ What even is she?! _ she thought fearfully.

At first glance, Milana’s words might not sound out of the ordinary. But from another point of view, what she said could also mean the following:

_ In order to win against Bell, one needed the same superiority in numbers and cooperative ability that SHINC possessed, a group of six that had spent their entire GGO career working as a team. _

“By the way, what if you fight her separately…?” Karen asked in trepidation.

“Impossible.” “I wouldn’t even be able to put up a fight.” “I’d die after a minute.” “I might have a chance with a sniper rifle, but honestly I wouldn’t bet on it.” “One of the higher-ranked BoB participants might have a chance.” “But if they’re a bad match then she’ll probably win anyway.”

All of SHINC answered one after another.

“Eep…” Karen whimpered. At the same time, a thought appeared in her mind.

_ Why did she PK me? _

Playing as Llenn in GGO, she preferred PK-ing over hunting monsters in the game. That was all. She was far from being an infamous troll player. And one of GGO’s main attraction was the ability to PK with guns, so it wasn’t like her way of playing was problematic.

Sometimes groups were formed in order to kill overly powerful players, but Llenn didn’t have so much power or fame to earn a hit on her. If she was talking about infamy, then Pitohui would absolutely be on top of the charts. Llenn was only a bit popular among the Squad Jam participants and viewers, at most.

Suddenly, the memory of the moment before she got killed reappeared in her mind. She muttered.

“By the way, I think she might have said something like… ‘this is for my Faifer… Zelisca’? Or something. Before she killed me.”

The entirely gymnastic club gave her looks of pity. 

“Right…” “I see.” “Oh well, don’t you worry about it,” they said.

“What? What?” Karen’s eyes darted around in bewilderment.

Ignoring the confused woman, the entirety of SHINC put their heads together and began an impromptu strategy meeting.

“...this is absolutely her plot, isn’t it?”

“Ninety percent sure Pitohui’s behind this.”

“She probably just wanted to see what would happen if Llenn and Bell fights each other.”

Moe’s guess was pretty much correct.

“It’s possible… but listen up everyone. I believe this is also a chance, ” Saki said with complete confidence.

“What do you mean?” Risa asked.

“We can use this chance to get Karen to understand how strong she actually is.”

“So we pit Karen against Bell? But she already lost once, and besides I don’t think she’s exactly excited to go for it.”

“We’ll handle that somehow.”

“‘Somehow’…?”

“Well I don’t mind, this seems fun.”

“Can she even win?”

“She can… hopefully. Bell only uses pistols, and Karen… Llenn would overwhelm her in speed.”

“Well, we can only do our best.”

The girls finished their meeting and turned back to Karen.

Meanwhile, the woman had been busy brooding and thinking about the reason why Bell had attacked her… and the possibility of it being some sort of plot from Pitohui had come to her. 

It was easy to see what position Pitohui occupied in her thoughts. And the fact that she had essentially gotten it right was also undeniable proof of Pitohui’s character.

Uncaring of Karen’s musings, Saki, as the representative of the group, offered a proposal.

“Karen! I mean, Llenn!”

“Umm, yes…?” Karen answered, taken aback by Saki’s sudden intensity.

“We think you should have a revenge match with Bell!!”

"...a revenge match?” 

A question mark popped out of Karen’s head. Before she could understand what was going on, the talk was already well on its way.

As the conversation advanced, the prepared snacks decreased in counter proportion.

●

I literally just stepped a foot outside and then died.

Questions filled my head as I paced in circles in my player home. Pretty sure it was a PK, but other than that, I had absolutely no clue.

“Have I ever done anything to warrant a grudge…?”

_ “uh oh we’ve got a dense one here” _ _   
_ _ “dense little girl? niceee” _ _   
_ _ “strength can attract the unsavory types at times” _ _   
_ _ “she did die right after she left town, it might have been a pleasure killing” _ _   
_ _ “maybe just try going out one more time?” _

“Well, I guess. If I get attacked again I can just deal with them with my C...Z…?”

As I gathered up my viewers’ opinions, I searched for my partners that I always had on me in case of emergencies, only to find that instead of two CZ 75 SP-1 Tacticals, I only had one… what the?

The name of an often-seen phenomenon flashed through my mind.  _ The Death Penalty Item Drop.  _

I collapsed on my knees.

“No… impossible…”

_ “uh oh” _ _   
_ _ “this is bad” _ _   
_ _ “cheer up” _ _   
_ _ “come on wipe your tears” _ _   
_ _ “your killer might have picked it up, you just need to go kill them back” _ _   
_ _ “satzbatz!” _

It felt like my soul was ripped in half. 

Months had passed since the first time I laid eyes upon my darling CZ 75, a bayonet-attached pistol, the gun of my dreams. The joyful days I spent with my beloved had been unforgettable. And yet there was someone… someone who would dare to TEAR US APART!

“You’re  _ dead _ …!”

_ “preemptive F for whoever did it” _ _   
_ _ “RIP” _ _   
_ _ “well well well this is going be fun” _ _   
_ _ “getting my popcorn” _ _   
_ _ “does Pitohui have anything to do with it this time?” _ _   
_ _ “when does she not?” _

“It’s probably Pitohui again anyway, so she’s eating another one week auction ban.”

_ “serves you right” _ _   
_ _ “AAAAAAAAAGGHAHHAGHA?!!?” _ _   
_ _ “business as usual” _ _   
_ _ “Bell don’t even bother thinking before handing out Pito bans now” _ _   
_ _ “this gag’s getting old” _ _   
_ _ “thank you, we can finally simp in peace” _

Ignoring collateral-damage-Pitohui, I left my home in search of my lost partner. But just as I took a step out, I noticed the mailbox on the front door (which served as a sort of item box) had a new item inside. I had a guess as to what it might be, and my guess was proven correct once it was materialized: an item in the shape of a cassette, used for audio recording and playback within GGO.

“Is this an advance notice of crime?”

_ “whoever it is is so dead” _ _   
_ _ “out of all the possible ways to pick a fight with Bell, they just had to pick the worst. must be fearless” _ _   
_ _ “wait, it might be pitohui begging to be taken off the blacklist” _ _   
_ _ “lmao in that case she’s got some serious speed” _

“Let’s just play this and see.”

No matter what it was, I’d have to listen to it first. I returned back into my home, opened up my inventory, and took out the cassette player that all players received when they first joined the game.

...yeah, as it was this item was pretty much just a waste of storage, wasn’t it? Since the only thing it could do was record and playback audio, and you couldn’t sell or give it away. Though it could be useful if you gave it to a crafter since they could turn it into a two-way radio, add a mapping function, or do something else with it.

Speaking of which, considering that Ashley and Iikura had already shown up, I wondered if the whole Trade Union was coming to this game. I honestly was quite reluctant to throw myself into that den of lolicons, but they had some  _ unreal _ technical skills. Maybe they could even turn this piece of junk into a top meta item… and I still hadn’t said thanks for this combat outfit, too. I should get their contact info and visit next time.

Anyway, I digressed. I opened the lid of the materialized player and inserted the cassette.

“On an unrelated note, I really like the sound this thing makes when I open the lid. Like,  _ clack!  _ The sort of sound old portable players make.”

_ “yeah I get you” _ _   
_ _ “it is really cool” _ _   
_ _ “it’s like the transformation item in superhero drama series” _ _   
_ _ “like when they shout Transform! and clicked a cassette, I love it” _ _   
_ _ “me2” _ _   
_ _ “me3” _

I made small talk with the viewers and pressed the play button, and a voice rang out. Considering the time written in the file name, this had been recorded right after I died.

Far from the viewers’ and my own expectations, the culprit’s voice was not Pitohui’s, but instead a young-sounding girl.

_ “I-I’m the player who got PK’ed by you the other day! My name’s Llenn! This is my partner, P-chan! ...oh wait, I forgot this is just an audio recording…” _

“Hmmm. Llenn, is it?”

I nodded. I knew my killer’s name now.

_ “cute voice” _ _   
_ _ “I just know she’s got the same kind of little girl avatar as Bell” _ _   
_ _ “*licks*… yup that’s a little girl avatar” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “lolfag has joined the battle” _

As the viewers made a fuss in the comments over her voice, the playback continued.

_ “...umm, I think you’ll know who I am right away once you leave for the field since my clothes and equipment are all pink. So, umm, the PK just now was my declaration of war. Please have a match with me! I heard about how miss Pito lost, and then people around me kept saying you’re really strong, so I got curious! If I lose, I’ll give back the pistol that you dropped! And if…” _

“... **what did you just say?** ”

_ “eeep” _ _   
_ _ “my butthole just puckered up” _ _   
_ _ “this might work for me actually” _ _   
_ _ “I’ll report you” _ _   
_ _ “please don’t” _ _   
_ _ “too late” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

Are you sane? You stole my pistol and then say you’ll return it if you lose? “Are you so confident that you’ll win? Against me?  _ With that little girl voice??? _ ”

_ “sshhh Bell, your thoughts are leaking” _ _   
_ _ “little girl voice… uh, well I guess” _ _   
_ _ “Bell has the largest collection of pots and kettles” _ _   
_ _ “little girls asserting dominance over one another is the greatest thing” _ _   
_ __ “I hope I can see them wrestling, if you know what I mean”

_ “...if I win, I’ll keep it!!!” _

●

Later, viewers of Bell’s channel would have the following to say about this moment:

_ “That was the first time I’ve ever seen Bell so pissed,” _ according to one.

_ “It was how I found out that there is an actual, physical noise when someone snaps,”  _ according to another.

It was also the moment that marked the beginning of what would then be dubbed the “World War Littlegirls” by viewer consensus. After being uploaded, the episode would reach the number one spot on the general rankings and entered the hall of fame of a certain famous video sharing site.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Speaking of which, this would be the info dealers’ reaction: “What? Frenda killed a green? Well it’s Frenda we’re talking about, that green must have used some loophole to commit PK anyway.”
> 
> Yes, they had a _dangerous_ amount of trust.


	12. World War Littlegirls ~ Breaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Rereading Girls Ops now due to a comment.  
> It reminded me again how good it was.  
> As an adaptation of a light novel (a spinoff it may be) it’s got consistent art, and most of all, Silica is adorable. Silica is adorable. Yes, it’s important enough to repeat.
> 
> Alright, now to the Frenda-style evaluation of Lux and Gwen, characters in Girls Ops.
> 
> Lux  
> Would be immediately judged guilty if found in SAO. No mercy to any Laughing Coffin members. But if discovered in the present then Frenda might relent as Silica and her friends desperately defended Lux and tried to explain the situation, finally agreeing to spare her as long as she was put under close watch. Might being the operative word.  
> Also Lux does know about the Gravekeeper and would be scared stiff. If she encountered her she’d probably get a panic attack.
> 
> Gwen  
> Would be spared, surprisingly enough. She might have worked for Laughing Coffin, but she belonged to an entirely separate orange guild. Furthermore, canon had explicitly stated that her guild ‘mostly committed robbery, never murder’, so Frenda the PKK would not be interested in her. But if the robbery resulted in the victim being killed by a monster, then that would count as PK, and Gwen’s group would get to see some daggers and chakrams in their future very soon.
> 
> That’s about it.  
> If Silica’s group found out that Lux used to belong to Laughing Coffin, they’d probably be amazed by how she even survived. Oh man I have so many ideas…

In the middle of a wind-blasted desert, its sands a sickly pink in what was likely a manifestation of the game’s cyberpunk-ish design, Llenn stood. Clad in full-pink combat clothes and pink equipment, she was the image of an undaunted challenger waiting for her opponent: Bell, a GGO streamer.

Her partner P-chan, a P90 submachine gun, was already in her hand and ready to fire, while on her thigh was a sheath holding a combat knife that M gave her.

She was ready.

“Go ahead, whereever you are!” Llenn shouted, eager for battle.

Some time later, she caught sight of a small shadow leisurely walking through the desert. In a game as full of giants as GGO, little-girl avatars like Llenn or Bell was a sight rarely seen. Thinking that it was her opponent, Llenn lowered her center of gravity, stamped a foot into the sands, and sprinted toward silhouette.

She was aiming for a preemptive strike. A logical tactic in a game like GGO, where traps, ambushes, and every other tricks under the sun were considered the norm.

But only when her opponent wasn’t Bell.

_ Bang! _

“Eep?!”

Just as Llenn was only about 100 meters away from the shadow that she thought was Bell, an explosion rang right next to her ear, and she instantly leapt away in surprise. There, she saw Bell in an aiming stance with an  _ absurdly  _ enormous handgun, a scowl on her face and radiating such displeasure that Llenn thought she would be clicking her tongue at any moment now.

“Tsk. Missed.”

She  _ did  _ click her tongue.

With a  _ ka-shak _ , the handgun moved. Having calmed down, Llenn focused her eyes at Bell’s weapon, and she realized it was an oversized revolver. The previous explosion had been the sound of a bullet being propelled from the gun. Considering its size, a single direct hit might just be enough to blast away the entire HP bar of her small Llenn avatar.

In a split second, Llenn immediately understood their difference in power.

_ This was bad _ , she thought.

This was not an opponent Llenn could use her favorite tactic on, the tactic of approaching at extreme speed and shooting at point-blank range. Consequently, she decided to keep her distance and attacked from afar.

Llenn’s P90’s effective range was about 200 meters. Meanwhile, a typical pistol had a range of around 50 meters. With her own weapon having four times the effective range, Llenn had an overwhelming advantage in a shootout at a distance.

_ Right, didn’t everyone in SHINC told me she was good at close range?  _ thought Llenn as she rapidly distanced herself from Bell. Making full use of her extremely-high AGI, she retreated back to the 150 meters mark in a blink of an eye. On her face was none of the original complacency, now replaced by the same kind of sheer focus that she showed in the Squad Jams when she had to face off against SHINC or Pitohui. She wasn’t a fan of shooting a helpless opponent from afar while they had no way to retaliate with their short-range weapons, but she understood that this was not a battle she could afford to be picky about.

“Yah!”

Llenn shouted and fired. The sound of a gun firing fifteen rounds a second echoed across the sands. Bright red bullet lines lit up Bell, their paths immediately followed by a torrent of bullets from the P90. Yet Bell didn’t make a single movement. Not when she saw the bullet lines appearing on her, and not even when she heard the bullets cutting through the air.

Llenn tilted her head in puzzlement. She could not think of any reason why she might not want her bullets to hit her opponent. In fact, if Bell was standing still, then all the more reason Llenn should pump out her entire magazine at her target. 

So she did so.

Fifty bullets slammed toward Bell, a torrent of lead that was certain to kill no matter how high their target’s stats were. The speeding bullets came closer, closer…

...and the desert bursted in a cloud of dust.

●

“So I’ve been thinking. Seeing and then cutting bullets is impossible.”

_ “well yeah ofc” _ _   
_ _ “you’d think it’s possible after seeing that lightsaber maniac girl doing it” _ _   
_ _ “didn’t we establish that she was cheating?” _ _   
_ _ “there it is, a noob who thinks literally everything is a cheat” _ _   
_ _ “go fight somewhere else you two” _ _   
_ _ “Bell seems like she can do it though” _

“Nope, no way, I can’t do that sort of superhuman stuff… anyway, so I’ve realized something—”

Right as I said that, bright red bullet lines appeared on my body. There was about fifty of them. An instant after, the despicable little Pinkie’s P90 spat out bullets to follow their guidance.

No matter how high my stats were, one whole magazine of SMG bullets would still be fatal. That much was obvious. And so I acted, believing in the theory I’d thought up.

“—if I can’t cut randomly flying bullets, then I just need to make the bullets predictable.”

A sound of something exploding rang out, and my vision rapidly spun. I assumed what exploded had been the ground — it sounded about right for the amount of force I had put into my leap. The HP bar on a corner of my vision went down, but it stopped moving before it was completely empty.

In my right hand was a CZ 75, its blade of light releasing crackling sparks as it appeared from under the barrel, and the same thing went with the AF2011-A1 in my left. The two blades, one light-blue and one crimson red, each released an extraordinarily large spark, as though stretching their shoulders as they woke up after a long sleep. The next moment, their keen edges completely manifested.

“I have successfully cut bullets.”

_ “wtf” _ _   
_ _ “holy fucking shit” _ _   
_ _ “congratulations, you have graduated from being human” _ _   
_ _ “we’re witnessing the birth of a monster here” _ _   
_ _ “begone, foul creature! you’ve lost your humanity!” _

“Well, I missed about half though.”

I was probably hit by about twenty bullets.

What I did was simple. I stood still to narrow down the possible trajectories that enemy bullets could take, then swung my photon swords through the path that was most likely to hit bullets. That was it. This was possible because unlike real, physical swords, photon swords had blades made of light which bend to a certain degree just by being swung, plus there was no need to worry about the angle of the blade. I only managed to survive this thanks to Ashley’s clothes and my own stats — a normal player would have been dead. Looked like bullet-cutting still wasn’t practical.

I quickly jabbed a healing nanoshot syringe taken from the apron pocket into myself and charged toward the little Pinkie before the cloud of dust dispersed. While I wasn’t as inhumanly fast as her when she retreated from my Zeliska previously, I was still moving at a speed that would earn me a gold medal at the Olympics. Cutting across the dust cloud, I readied my blade.

“Wha-no way?!” she shouted in surprise.

_ “DOMO, little pinkie-san. My name is the PINKIE SLAYER” _ _   
_ _ “that’s it, Bell won. I’m going to take a bath” _ _   
_ _ “I’ll go eat” _ _   
_ _ “just eat in front of the screen” _ _   
_ _ “my wife nags, you know…” _ _   
_ _ “we have a married traitor in our midst! Get him!” _

I ignored Pinkie (and the viewers, who were just as annoying as always) and swung my CZ 75 at her shoulder.

A slash so perfect it could not have missed, the light-blue blade leaving behind an afterimage in my slowed-down vision. But once it passed, the sight in front of me struck me dumbfounded.

_ “victory...hmm?” _ _   
_ _ “ooh?” _ _   
_ _ “huh?” _ _   
_ _ “hmm?” _ _   
_ _ “plot twist” _

_ Pinkie was unharmed _ . Leaping away at such inhuman speed that my own eyes could barely make out her silhouette, she ran from me like a bat out of hell. I reflexively pulled the CZ 75’s trigger to fire a few shots, but only two hit her in the arm and body, dealing not all that much damage.

In the blink of an eye, she had already left the effective range of pistols. Realizing that she had forced a reset of the game board, I let loose an unwitting utterance in my daze.

“...what?”

I could not cut her.  _ I _ , of all people.

...was her stats higher than I expected? No. The SMG she was using was the P90, a gun that didn’t require very high status. One that most GGO players considered to be a bridging step before they moved on to more powerful rifles or SMGs. Which meant her status was more than likely to be below average, maybe middle-average.

And  _ she  _ had dodged my attack. Which meant her own player skill was about the same as me… maybe even better. Maybe she was even as good as the Clearers!

“Hah. Now we’re talking!”

_ “hey bell, hey, you’re breaking character” _ _   
_ _ “your face is looking like that little girl chancellor” _ _   
_ _ “well that’s the selling point of this game, it’s so brutal it turns even little girls into monsters” _ _   
_ _ “but this is Bell, so it’s all right!” _

Just perfect. Sooner or later I’m going to kill that half-Japanese (or was he quarter-Japanese? I didn’t know) motherfucker slowly and  _ painfully _ anyway, a test subject to practice on was just what I need. 

Watch out, Pinkie, I’m pulling out all the stops.

With unprecedented speed, I opened up the menu and pulled out a pistol from my inventory. A familiar heft, somewhat heavier than the average pistol, settled in my hand, the nostalgia flashing through me for a moment before I tossed it into a corner of my mind and charged. The gun I had taken out was the pistol I had once used in a Gun Cooking stream a long, long time ago: a M1911 modified with the HERA Arms Pistol Carbine CPE conversion kit. It could be loaded with 10 rounds at the maximum, as the magazine size depended on the base pistol. A far cry from my opponent’s 50 rounds magazine, but that was fine. In fact, if I couldn’t even overcome this disadvantage, then there was no way for me to kill that bastard.

●

Bell screamed, dashing forward with such speed that the ground under her feet near shattered, pushing herself all the way up to the limits of the Amusphere’s signal transmission speed. For a single moment, the visual effects in her vision  _ blurred _ . Facing a dash that might as well be teleportation from an outsider’s point of view, Llenn still managed to react.

Fortunately, or perhaps  _ un _ fortunately, she had reacted.

_ I know miss Pito, but all the top GGO players really are insane,  _ Llenn secretly thought, utterly frightened by the sight of Bell  _ cutting  _ around half of the fifty-rounds barrage and still charging forward despite being hit by the other half, a feat far more monstrous than anything Llenn could imagine.

Unaware that she herself had already made a step inside that very same realm of monsters, a fact that everyone around her had already realized.

Right after switching in a new magazine, Llenn immediately emptied it again toward Bell while screaming in panic. The distance that she’d earned in utmost desperation was now being rapidly closed. She was firing completely blind, but as her target was charging toward her, she expected at least some must hit.

The desert exploded.

Llenn’s bullets cut through only air. She had only an instant to be confused before instincts warned her through a chilling tingle at her neck, and she immediately sat down on her heels. Her agility, the stat that she poured all her efforts into grinding, now faithfully served her as it fulfilled the order coming from her brain and pulled her head downward.

And she felt death passing above her.

Death took the form of a blood-red blade of light unleashing an unusually large spark as it passed through the air. The chilling sight froze her in place for a split second before she kicked the ground, her coiled legs propelling her like a spring.

●

“Whoa?!” shouted Pinkie.

“I see, so you can dodge that too,” I calmly said.

_ “uh oh she’s turning into a demon queen now” _ _   
_ _ “demon queen bell” _ _   
_ _ “the ultimate! the supreme! the unparalleled! the all-powerful!” _ _   
_ _ “oh my bell” _ _   
_ _ “I order you to REJOICE!” _ _   
_ _ “pinkie’s dodging pretty well there” _ _   
_ _ “hang in there Llenn!!” _

She dodged. Again. With movements that wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t been through at least a few hells. Even the additional 10 bullets that I fired from the pistol-caliber carbine was ineffective, Pinkie having dived forward the very moment she saw the bullet lines to minimize the damage she took.

...she’s good. Far better than me whose strength was dependent on my high status, if I was to be honest.

The moment she took my pistol, me killing her once was a foregone conclusion no matter if she returned it or not, but afterwards? I wouldn’t mind adding her to my friend list.

I put the converted carbine back into my inventory as it had run out of bullets and took out another pistol. I aimed the AF2011 toward Pinkie, who had taken the occasion to attempt escape, and fired once for suppressive purpose.  _ Ba-blam! _ went its distinctive gunshot, or rather shot _ s _ . From its uniquely double barrel came twin bullets that struck the small, pink form at two different points in time.

“Argh-crap!”

“But I guess you’re not all there yet, are you?”

_ “bow before the queen” _ _   
_ _ “eep” _ _   
_ _ “eep” _ _   
_ _ “such absolute confidence” _ _   
_ _ “well she picked a fight with Bell, this is about what I’d expect” _

I could see her using a healing syringe even as she was running. Doing her best to gather herself back up in the limited time that she had? That had been good. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for her long-term plan. She had probably been thinking she just needed enough HP to tank one single hit. The little Pinkie hadn’t tried to dodge, instead simply focusing on making as much distance as she could. 

And that was the reason why she got hit. What she thought was just one single hit had turned out to be two. While the bullet lines might have overlapped, if she looked carefully she should still have been able to figure it out. Oh well, this was live combat. Can’t expect her to notice everything.

The AF2011 I got from Pitohui was the DBDC Tactical version, whose double barrel shot bullets of different cartridges. It was the reason why while each pull of the trigger did not simply deal twice the damage, in terms of total power, it still rivaled that of the IMI Desert Eagle that I just pulled out of my inventory.

Only if both bullets hit, though.

“Dammit…” Pinkie grumbled in frustration, her teeth clenched.

“This is the end for you!!” I shouted.

_ “TIMEEE BREAKKKK!!” _ _   
_ _ “clack clack beeeeppp” _ _   
_ _ “hey isn’t it supposed to be TIME OF DEMISEEEE?!” _ _   
_ _ “do a really cool roundhouse kick please? Pleaseeee?” _ _   
_ _ “are we being raided by Rider fans?!” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “lolfag has entered the battle” _

I held the Desert Eagle and the AF2011 in both hands and charged, ready to deal the final blow. Pinkie blind-fired her P90 to prevent me from getting close. A futile resistance. My focus was the highest it had ever been, and to me, the bullets might as well be standing still.

In the world of slow-motion, I swung the AF2011’s photon bayonet along the bullet lines…

...and missed.

“Oof.”

_ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “wow you just smacked yourself with that bullet” _ _   
_ _ “Bell. Bell never changes” _ _   
_ _ “business as usual” _ _   
_ _ “lmao right now” _

W-wait, let me explain, all right? I did actually think I could do it, you know? I just didn’t expect the bullet lines to be moving so much due to my running…

_ *sniffle* _

Aaaaah dammit. Focus time over. I don’t care anymore, let’s just get it over with.

The direct hit had pulled my HP down to the red zone, and I used a nanoshot syringe to recover… you know, this probably looked like a  _ really _ dubious scene from an outside view. Like, hello? A little girl (in appearance) jabbing an injector filled with a sickly-green liquid into her neck? Somebody better call the police—whoa, too close. Shit. Okay, stop, gotta focus on the battle.

Pinkie was swiftly reloading the P90, which meant she probably just emptied a magazine. I took the opportunity to close range and turn this into a melee fight. As far as I could see, she only had a sheathed knife for her melee options, so this would probably work out fine.

I rapid-fired the AF2011 while closing the last ten meters. She was desperately dodging and trying to get away, which I did not allow. Had this been a map with more obstacles, it would have been more difficult for me to keep her there, but this was a desert. Pinning her down with suppressive fire was easy. I hadn’t been using pistols all this time just to be  _ bad  _ at it, alright?

Realizing that she wasn’t going to reload in time, she immediately threw away her P90, pulled out the knife, and charged. Very decisive, which was good, but unfortunately for her, she wasn’t good  _ enough _ .

I melted through the knife blade with my photon bayonet, grabbed her outstretched arm, twisting and raising it up. I dived under the arm I grabbed and moved to her back, at the same time harshly pulling on it to destabilize her posture and forced her down to the ground, her arm now tightly held in my own. 

And that was the end of combat. Single hand grab into rotary throw and ending with a pronating wristlock… uh, that was probably a bit hard to understand. It’s an Aikido thing, basically.

“And there we go. I recommend surrendering,” I told her.

_ “lol that last bit was lame as all hell” _ _   
_ _ “now this is what I call Bell quality” _ _   
_ _ “it’s not even exaggeration to say that people watch bell’s streams for the lameness” _ _   
_ _ “yessss little girl on little girl action” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _

“Waaahhh! I lostttt!” little Pinkie yelled out in evident frustration, her other hand tapping the ground to signal surrender.

“Then as you promised, time to give me back my CZ 75,” I said.

She immediately did so without further questions. Surprisingly honest, she was.

Hmmm… I  _ could _ just kill her and move on, but for some reason I didn’t want to bother with the effort. That failed bullet-cutting attempt just took the wind out of my sails, and now I wasn’t all that murderous any more.

After confirming that my baby CZ 75 was unharmed, I released Pinkie from the hold. She didn’t seem to be willing to continue combat anyway, and besides I also had a personal interest in her too. After we spent a bit of time introducing ourselves, I and Pinkie (whose player name was Llenn, she said) began some small talk as we took a walk around the map. The friend requests were already sent.

“Haah, you really are as good as I heard,” she said.

“As you heard? So somebody did tell you about me, didn’t they?”

_ “uh oh” _ _   
_ _ “aww crap” _ _   
_ _ “oh nooooo” _ _   
_ _ “Pitohuiiiiiii” _ _   
_ _ “yeah that’s a guilty” _ _   
_ _ “totally guilty” _

“Ah, yes, umm, I heard it from SHINC… who you probably don’t know. Right. Umm, so I have some friends who watch your streams,” she explained.

“I see, my viewers… who is it? Are you watching?”

I called out to my mysterious viewer who was acquainted with Llenn, my eyes watching the comments. After a while, a short greeting appeared. 

_ “...hello” _ _   
_ _ “?!?!?!?!?!” _ _   
_ _ “OMG YOU SPEAK?!?!” _ _   
_ _ “hold on what the fuck” _

It came from the username… hmmm? Hold on a minute…

“Wait a minute, is your friend…”

“Hmm? Do you mean SHINC? What about them?”

_ “sorry, it was me. I set it up” _ _   
_ _ “lolfag has ente-HOLY SHIT IT WAS YOU?!!? WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK” _ _   
_ _ “YOU TALKED?!!” _ _   
_ _ “breaking news: lolfag finally speaks” _ _   
_ _ “I seriously thought they were just a bot” _ _   
_ _ “Llenn’s friend, Bell’s viewer… I see! lolfag is a little girl too!!!” _ _   
_ _ “nah she's not, uh,  _ little _ ” _

“What?! You’re lolfag’s friend?! What the-WHAT?”

“Whoa-what’s gotten into you, miss Bell?!”

Lolfag actually  _ spoke _ !?!

●

Some time after, the comments and I finally started to calm down. As lolfag and Llenn said it, the former had incited the latter into picking a fight with me to ascertain her own strength. She was curious about me since I had handled Pitohui so easily, she said. It hadn’t actually been as easy as she made it out to be, but well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

“Which means Pitohui was actually innocent this time…?” I muttered.

_ “the defendant is acquitted!” _ _   
_ _ “YESSSSSSS!!!” _ _   
_ _ “impossible” _ _   
_ _ “Pitohui was the first one to sic Bell on Llenn though” _ _   
_ _ “hmmm, still guilty then…?” _ _   
_ _ “lol absolutely no mercy” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “lolfag please talk” _ _   
_ _ “sorry, force of habit” _

“I do think miss Pito  _ is  _ the source of all of this, though…” Llenn offered.

“Alright, then I’ll continue to keep her in the blacklist,” I decided.

_ “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” _ _   
_ _ “lmao” _

“Oh, you might want to bend your elbows a bit more. Keeping them too straight and the recoil will kick the whole arm up.”

“Ah, yes… like this?”

“Right, right. Also watch your posture. You often see people shoot when turned to the side like that in TV and movies, but in reality it’s easier to shoot facing forward. The grip gets more stable too.”

“U-Understood!”

“Right, well, just try shooting. We’ve got some convenient monsters right here.”

At the moment, I and Llenn was taking a stroll through the wooded area next to the desert, where monsters spawned with decent frequency. I was teaching her how to use a pistol. Llenn seemed to be thinking about buying one as a backup gun just in case, since having just the P90 as her main arm might limit her options during certain situations. She had this realization after the previous battle with me, and so as a believer of Handgunism, I welcomed her with open arms.

“But you already have the P90 as your main arm, right? Can you handle having two main arms?”

_ “uh, yeah” _ _   
_ _ “of course everyone knows that pistols are main weapons” _ _   
_ _ “yup. Pistols are main arms” _

“Huh? What are you talking about, miss Bell? Aren’t pistols sidearms?”

_ “oH nO whAt iS thIs LitTle GirL tAlkIng AbOut” _ _   
_ _ “just the fact that she dares say that to Bell’s face has earned my immense respect” _

“What? No, pistols are main arms.”

“What?”

“What?”

_ “wat?” _ _   
_ _ “what?” _ _   
_ _ “uh, yes, as you say, Bell” _ _   
_ _ “yes maam” _ _   
_ _ “yes mum” _ _   
_ _ “mamma mia” _ _   
_ __ “here I go again”

...we had some  _ difference _ in worldviews, but otherwise the lecture went smoothly.

Unfortunately, the peace did not last.

●

“I guess that’s about it,” Bell said, ”You got the basics down. Just keep going to the shooting range regularly so you don’t forget the feeling, and you won’t have a problem.”

“Thank you very much! I’m truly grateful that you even gave me a handgun lesson after I challenged you to a fight!” Llenn gushed.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s thanks for giving me back the gun right away as well, really. If you hadn’t, I would have had to continue killing you until you give it back.”

_ Thank god I accepted that defeat, _ Llenn thought, a wave of relief washing over her.

If she was to be honest, she actually did have a passing thought of getting in one last hit since she had felt like it hadn’t even been an actual fight, but for some reason her instincts had screamed at her that it would be the worst choice she could make, and so she didn’t, instead simply taking the loss as it was. In hindsight it had turned out to be the right choice, as it had helped her build a positive relationship with Bell.

After the battle and the lecture, Llenn’s opinion of Bell was soaring. Out of all the players she knew in GGO, she would consider Bell to be among the best of the best, especially when the streamer was truly using only pistols all this time. 

...the pistol status of some of them was arguable, but Bell had said “They  _ are  _ pistols,” with a face that brook no dissent, and so Llenn simply took her words at face value and agreed, “I see, they’re pistols!”

The corruption was spreading to Llenn as well, slowly but surely.

Not only that, Bell had even given Llenn a pistol as a present.

The gift was the Walther P99, a pistol on the smaller side. Llenn loved it, as it had a similar name to her P-chan.

With the appearance of the present that Llenn now called Mini P-chan, her opinion of Bell had now reached the moon. She excitedly tested it out on the newly-spawned monsters, her mind actively ignoring the monster corpses behind her that had been killed with  _ cutting  _ wounds and bullet holes that  _ most certainly _ could not come from the caliber of a pistol. Bell was a player she respected, but she also understood that her style was not something she could mimic.

Her judgement was correct.

_ With that much skill, she would absolutely win the third Squad Jam if it happened _ , Llenn idly thought as she continued killing monsters. After some time, the two of them reached a clearing by the riverside.

“Oh, it’s the river,” Llenn said.

“No signs of monsters… so what do you want to do? Go for round two?” Bell suggested.

“No! How do I even win against you face-to-face, miss Bell?!”

“Pitohui picks fight with me all the time, though…”

“Miss Pito is… well, she’s just that sort of person.”

They talked, walking upstream with no particular goal in mind.

Suddenly, they saw a smoke grenade bursting. The two immediately readied themselves for an attack, P-chan in Llenn’s hands, but there were no bullet lines to accompany the subsequent gunshots that they heard, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes there were monsters like M who attacked without bullet lines, but most players didn’t have that level of skill. They were most likely safe.

It seemed the two of them had come across a fight between two squadrons. They decided to take a wait-and-see approach.

One of the squadrons seemed to have a lot of money to spare, having used enough smoke grenades for the smoke to reach the two even as the gunshots they heard were still some distance away. If they just recklessly ran, they would probably be found by an observer-slash-sniper that was likely camping at a vantage point, resulting in the possibility of them being dragged into the battle as well.

And so the two decided to hide behind a boulder by the riverside. 

A few minutes passed. The lessening smoke was regaining its density — their opponents had just used some more smoke grenades, it seemed. Several players cut across the smoke and passed by their boulder, all of whom held assault rifles and night-vision goggles. A rich squadron, as they had correctly surmised.  _ I could have given P-chan some better customizations if I had that much credits! _ thought Llenn in a moment of envy, which didn’t last long once she realized that in the end, P-chan didn’t need fancy gadgets to be a perfectly reliable partner.

But the very next moment after her thoughts concluded,

“Llenn, watch out!”

“WAH!”

Llenn was suddenly pushed away. Through her blurring vision, she witnessed a sight nigh-unbelievable.

The boulder behind which Llenn and Bell had been hiding was now melted into two. So was the IMI Desert Eagle in Bell’s hands, who had attempted to intercept their opponents after pushing Llenn to the side.

A single calm thought passed by Llenn’s mind as she recovered from the fall and stood back up..

_ Yup, whoever just did that is going to be so dead. _

She couldn’t see all that clearly, but she was certain Bell’s handgun was destroyed. And in GGO, destruction of equipment items meant they were lost. Which meant that Desert Eagle was gone forever.

Bell loved handguns. So much that she had turned into a berserker after her gun had been taken by Llenn. What would happen if her handgun was destroyed, then?

_ Rest in peace _ , thought Llenn as she readied her partner, P-chan. She  _ was  _ attacked as well, so she was fully intent on retaliating. The smoke was dispersing, likely due to the enemy’s attack, and Llenn saw Bell and their opponents.

“...hah. Hahahah… hic…” Bell choked out, half-laughing, half-crying.

“Wait, it wasn’t them… oh shit,” said a dainty girl with long, black hair, her face spasming in realization of the enormous oopsie she had just committed. Running after her was a beautiful girl with hair of light-brown.

“Kirito?! What’s got you charging all the… way…” said she, her words and her feet sputtering to a stop as she got close. Both of them held in their hands the same kind of photon sword that Bell had attached under her gun barrel.

And then, Llenn heard a faint growl coming from Bell.

“... **kill you** .”

Llenn had seen anger before. From people she’d met, even from Bell herself during their match.

But she had never seen such sheer  _ rage _ . Rage that she never even thought was possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:   
> I never said World War Littlegirls were just between two people.
> 
> Now we go to round two. Angsty Kirito (trap ver.) and Serial Murdering Wife Asuna, versus Bell (absolutely pissed ver.) and little Pinkie, actual player name Llenn.
> 
> Ready, fight!
> 
> What? Timeline’s fucked up? It’s been fucked since the beginning, you fool!


	13. Interlude: Confession

In certain circles, the Rye Bread Club was a famous guild.

The small crafting guild comprised of only nine members. It was known to players of all levels, from mid-rank players to the Clearers. Asuna herself had been a repeat customer of the Rye Bread Club as well. In fact, she had a secret that she still hadn’t told anyone: that it had been their delicacies made from rye bread that had caused her to change her stance on the Cooking skill and begin practicing it.

Rye bread was the cheapest food item one could buy on the first floor of Aincrad, costing only a single col and yet was voluminous enough to decently fill one’s stomach. It had proved very useful to Asuna during the early days of clearing SAO. As the cheapest food item, however, it was understandably far from being tasty. Back then, the taste had been one of the motivations for her to clear the game as fast as possible, resulting in her camping in the dungeons for days on end without any care for her own safety.

Unsurprisingly, her reckless course of action had ended with her falling unconscious in the dungeon, which was how she had met with Kirito, the boy whom she now had an intimate relationship with. It had been him who had taught her how to turn rye bread delicious.

...another one of her secrets was that after meeting him, she had filled her entire inventory storage to the brim with the same jars of cream as the condiment item that he had told her about.

She had only met with the Rye Bread Club quite some time later, about right after she joined the Knights of the Blood, the guild that she would be in until the end of SAO. As was her daily schedule, she had been heading outside of town in order to level with her fellow guild members in the dungeon, when two girls approached her.

It surprised her. She was aware of how her appearance attracted attention from the other sex and in fact, she had been hit on more than just a few times. However, being approached by strangers in a town on the frontline, and by two girls at that, was a first for her.

“Umm, excuse me, pretty miss! Would you like a  _ bento _ ?”

“Come now Bell, can’t you see she’s about to leave town? Don’t be a nuisance.”

“You’re terrible at business, big sis. If we want to expand the market, then she’s exactly the kind of people we need to talk to.”

The two looked the complete inverse of how they called each other. One was the height of a kid who had just entered middle-school, an adorable girl that gave off the impression of being a small animal, while the other appeared to be a woman who had recently come of age. Both of them were wearing matching apron dresses. If someone had asked Asuna who was the older sibling, she would have unhesitantly pointed to the woman, and yet it had been the woman who had called the girl “big sis”.

Their surprising age and the fact that they were also female players stopped Asuna in her tracks. There was still plenty of time left until the meeting time, so she thought she could spare a moment to talk with them. Seemingly to have realized Asuna’s attention, the… sisters? The two sisters chattering among themselves then moved toward her, the older one looking somewhat contrite, but both appeared glad.

“Sorry, miss. We must have interrupted you,” the older sister said.

“It’s fine,” Asuna replied, “I still have time until I meet with the guild members, and I’m curious about you two as well. You’re not the type of players I see often at the frontline, if at all.”

“Thank you for your time. Right, so, my name is Frenda. This is my sister, Bell. We’re salespeople from the cooking guild Rye Bread Club, and we’re in this town today to find new customers.”

“Nice to meet you, miss!” the younger sister, Bell, energetically said, “You must know about the rye bread on the first floor, yes?! Tastes not all that good, but very cheap and filling? Well, our nutcas—I mean, guild master, had created the guild to do something about it!”

“Oh? I didn’t know such a guild existed,” Asuna nodded, her interest piqued, “My name’s Asuna, a member of the guild Knights of the Blood.”

Asuna and the Clearers were aware of the existence of mid-rank players. If she was to be honest, she did hope that they would fight on the front line like the Clearers did, but after the experiences she’d had, she also understood that not everyone could fight like she did, and that they, too, were also doing the best they could in their daily lives.

And as a matter of fact, the female blacksmith that had supported her until now was also a mid-rank player. Other crafting players were also essential to the Clearers. So when she heard about a cooking guild, her reaction had been simple curiosity.

“...so we’ve been selling to mid-rank players for a while, but then recently our guildmaster said, ‘There’s no reason why our rye bread can’t sell to Clearers!!’ ...and since we’ve always been doing sales, we got chosen.”

“It’s an entirely unfamiliar market for us, so we’ve been wondering who we should talk to…”

“And then I showed up, right? Got it,” Asuna nodded.

Which reminded her that she hadn’t been eating lunch recently. While the other guild members were having lunch, she was out hunting monsters, ignoring the virtual hunger with her own grit as though even time spent eating was wasted time.

It was what she’d always done, but maybe she could have lunch once in a while. As her guildmaster Heathcliff had said just recently, a change of pace was important as well. 

And so Asuna wasted no time in offering a trade menu to the salesgirls.

“...hmm. Well, I’m in the mood for some food too, so I think I’ll have some. What do you have?”

“Wha-really?! See, big sis! Just like I told you!” Bell jumped excitedly.

“Okay okay, I got you…” Frenda responded in exasperation and turned back to Asuna, ”Thank you. So we have… Rye Bread with Cream, Rye Bread Sandwich, Rye Bread as French Toast, and a Pizza-ish Thing Made From Something Rye Bread-ish.”

“...you really do have nothing but rye bread, don’t you? And what’s with the last one, ‘rye-bread-ish’? It’s not even rye bread anymore…”

“Umm, well, don’t mind it! Ingredients and name aside, I guarantee the taste! Cooking is all that that frea-I mean, guildmaster is good for!”

“You’ve been awfully harsh on your guildmaster since a while ago, haven’t you Bell? ...hmm, let’s see, I’ll have the Rye Bread with Cream, then.”

“Thank you for your purchase!” “See you again soon!”

The sisters were approachable to a degree Asuna hadn’t seen before in any other people, both in real life and in this world, and perhaps that was why it took no time at all for her to feel like they were already friends. She finished the trade and bought the bread at a surprisingly cheap price, only 100 col. “Yay!” jumped Bell in her delight, an infectious joy that also spread to Frenda who was watching from the side with a smile on her face. Seeing the sisters, Asuna thought,  _ Frenda really is the older one, isn’t she? _

“Speaking of which, one hundred might be a bit too cheap, don’t you think?” Asuna said.

“Well, the ingredients are all sourced from quests or hunting done by the guild members, so the only expense is the rye bread, really.”

“Yup. We can live pretty comfortably on the hunting, and one of rye bread’s advantages is its price anyway, so we thought a hundred’s good enough. If anything it’s a bit of a rip-off, really. I mean, it’s a hundredfold increase from cost, isn’t it?”

_ No, that’s not the point, _ Asuna was about to say before she stopped herself. Getting ingredients from hunting meant they had to put their lives on the line, so she thought they’d be fully justified if they were to raise their prices a bit more.  _ The cost isn’t just one col, _ she wanted to tell them _ , you have to account for market price of the other ingredients too! _

But Asuna wasn’t a member of their guild. If that was the direction they wanted to take, then it wasn’t her place to meddle.

“Umm, I see. Thank you,” Asuna said.

“Oh, it’s nothing to be grateful over, really. All of this is just a hobby for us and that weirdo, to be honest.”

“We just want to share good food with the Clearers, so if they’re happy, that’s enough for us,” the sisters replied.

“...got it. Then all the more I should be grateful, shouldn’t I?” Asuna chuckled.

It was almost time, and so she parted ways with the sisters and went toward the meeting spot, her steps having just a little bit more spring in it than her usual hurried walk.

On that day, some people said that a strange shout had echoed in the dungeon.

“A hundred col really is way too cheap for this!!!”

No one knew what it had been about.

●

Since their first meeting, Asuna continued to keep in contact with the sisters. And perhaps due to gaining a repeat customer who was a famous player in her own right, the Rye Bread Club’s name then began to spread among the Clearers, the guild rising to prominence as an eccentric one even among crafting guilds. Even Kirito and Heathcliff had begun to buy some snacks from the guild before they went for leveling.

“Wow, even better than the rye bread with cream I had before… I wonder what the ingredients are,” Kirito had said.

Asuna met with the sisters on multiple occasions: at times on the day of clearing a floor, at times before she went for leveling, and at times when she was just taking a walk. And the closer she got to them, the more she learned about them.

She learned that despite appearances, Frenda was already an adult and older than Bell (though for for a time, Asuna had thought that it was just the sort of…  _ roleplaying _ … they enjoyed.)

That even in real life, Bell was often thought of as the older sister upon first meetings.

That due to her looks, Frenda had gotten an exclusive contract from the  _ infamous _ player Ashley. As the tiny woman said it, “He has some lolicon tendencies, I swear.”

That Bell was currently in her fourth year of university and had started playing SAO to take her mind off of the dreaded graduation thesis, and now she had less than a snowball’s chance in hell to graduate.

That Tohto Broadband Connection, a network operator company, was Frenda’s workplace, and that she had been locked inside SAO after logging in as a part of her work.

That her boss, who had been locked in just like her, liked fishing, and had been generously supplying their guild with the catches that he made.

Asuna had taken the same Cooking skill as the sisters, having become such good friends with them that they often trade each other experimental dishes to taste-test. And the closer she got with the sisters, the more Asuna began to smile, her heart slowly regaining its equilibrium. Of course, Kirito, Lisbeth, and her other friends had certainly made a large contribution to her recovery, but at the same time her friendship with the sisters, who were so tightly-knit that sometimes she envied their relationship, had also become an irreplacable part of her.

She had thought it would last forever.

●

“I-It… it can’t be…”

Her voice quivered. Unceasing cries and wails rang out from around her. Unsurprising, for she was standing in what many called ‘the players’ graveyard’. 

The Black Iron Palace.

The location originally designated to be the respawn point for players who had lost their entire HP was now replaced by an enormous Monument of Life, on which was carved the names of all players who were logged into SAO. Players who had died would have their names unceremoniously crossed out, a cruel proclamation for those who still remained.

Asuna’s eyes were fixed on a single name.

Bell.

Like other players who had passed away, her name was crossed out by a yellow line, accompanied by the time and cause of her death. It was just the other day, the night of New Year’s Eve. Her cause of death was  _ being killed by another player _ .

It declared the manifestation of what should not happen, what  _ must never happen _ in a game where one’s HP was one’s own life itself: player-killing. And the first victim was Bell, of all people.

Asuna only realized this morning. Remembering that she still hadn’t sent her new year’s well-wishes, she had been about to go search for the sisters, opening up her friend list only to see that the name Frenda had disappeared, while Bell’s name was greyed-out. A greyed-out name meant that that particular player had died. A small part within Asuna had wondered about Frenda’s disappearance, but the rest of her was simply overwhelmed, unable to accept Bell’s death. She notified Heathcliff that she wouldn’t be joining the hunt of the day and ran like never before, running toward the Black Iron Palace within the Town of Beginnings.

And there, she had no choice but to face the truth. Her friend was gone.

Her throat choked. She clenched her teeth, trying to hold it all back, but she couldn’t fool the game’s facial recognition. Droplets of tears ran down her cheeks.

Had Bell been killed by monsters, Asuna might still have been able to accept it. This was SAO. It was one of the most, if not the most, frequent cause of death. She could have forced herself to accept it.

But how could she accept a death by players?

How could she accept the fact that there were players who  _ killed other people? _

She knew the killers still lived. She  _ knew _ . 

So how could she accept herself  _ when she wasn’t even capable of killing another for vengeance _ ?

She cried. She broke down and cried.

Choked by overwhelming grief, she cried in silence, her tears seemingly without end.

Not a single thought of the dungeons, of the game, remained.

●

Some time passed. Asuna once again returned to her old obsession of clearing the game.

She had not been able to recover from her loss. While she could not follow Frenda’s tracks, the woman having disappeared from her friend list, Asuna knew she was still alive from the Monument of Life.

Frenda was alive. The knowledge, more than anything else, was what gave her a hint of comfort.

Seeing Asuna throwing herself into the grind with more fervor than ever before, the people around her began to worry. Lisbeth and Heathcliff had many times told her to stop leveling, and her guild members started looking at her as though she was mad. Gazes of envy and respect turned into fear and dread, and some even started calling her with the name Berserker.

She didn’t care.

As time passed, her anger toward SAO and Laughing Coffin slowly turned into self-hatred.  _ Laughing Coffin appeared because I hadn’t been clearing the game fast enough _ , she thought.  _ Bell died and Frenda disappeared because the Clearers hadn’t been fast enough _ . 

It was her fault. Bell died because of her. 

Every day before going leveling, she checked the Monument of Life to confirm Frenda’s continued survival, and only then would she left for the dungeons. During this period of time, Asuna was sure that had she found Frenda’s name crossed out, she would have thrown herself off of the flying castle.

_ It’s fine _ , she convinced herself. _ She’s still alive. _

_ So I can still go on. _

She would only realize that she had been far too naive some time later, when the Knights of the Blood received a request to capture a certain orange guild.

●

The orange guild had been suspected to have connections with Laughing Coffin, and there had even been rumors that its members had killed. Knights of the Blood would acquire information from multiple info dealers, narrow down the location of their base, capture them, and send them to the prison of Black Iron Palace.

_ What a waste of time _ , Asuna thought as she watched the meeting with vacant eyes,  _ we should be clearing new floors and get out of this castle of iron as soon as possible before any more victims appeared, not dilly-dallying with these criminals. _

Murderous thoughts toward these orange players for causing this mess even began to pass through Asuna’s mind. She needed to capture them as fast as possible, so she could return to leveling and get through this floor, then the next, then the one after that. There wasn’t a moment to waste.

Driven by her obsession, Asuna and her guild headed toward the orange guild’s base.

And there, she witnessed hell.

“AAAARRRRHHHH!!! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! DON’T WANNA DIE DON’T WANNA DIEDON’TWANNA-”

“M-My arm… my arhm… mah… hah, hahaHAHAHAHAH!!”

“Akh… garhk…”

“What did I do?! What did I do to deserve this?!!”

A player had had his limbs staked to the floor as though a zoological specimen, the pins being iron lances with such obviously low quality they must have been mass-produced by NPC. Another was nothing more than a lump of meat laughing madly, his arms having been sliced off. Another was covered in symbols that denoted the Wet status effect throughout his whole body, coughing and hacking only due to a physiological reflex, his eyes vacant. Another was tied up in what looked like rope, crying and wailling as he hung from a tree. Out of all of them, those who still had the energy to scream had been better off. More than half didn’t even respond despite the arrival of an obviously hostile guild, their eyes glassy as they writhed around due to some form of torture or another.

All of them shared a common point: their orange player cursors. Faced by a situation they never expected, Asuna’s party froze in their tracks.

“W-what…? What’s going on?”

“Did they get attacked by Laughing Coffin?!”

“Shit, everyone on your guard! We’ve no idea where they could be!”

Her party was made of veterans who had lived and breathed the battlefield. They had been confused, but a single command was enough for them to regain their calm as they formed a circle, ready for attack from any direction.

The terrible fate that had befallen these players, the cruelty that had broken their minds, orange players they might be, had reminded Asuna of the methods that Laughing Coffin had employed, the PK guild whose formation had been announced on that day she broke down crying.

Tense seconds ticked by.

Then suddenly, a chakram flew from the darkness, severing the head of one of the players who had been wailing. Shock colored their face as their head flew in mid-air, their eyes fixed toward the upper-left. Asuna could all too easily imagine their HP bar emptying.

And then they shattered, both the head and the body. They died without a word, without even a moment for prayer.  _ So people die the same way monsters do, then _ , went a rogue thought in Asuna’s mind. 

She wondered if she’d been desensitized to acts of PK.

“T-they died…?”

“No way…”

“What… it can’t be…”

Asuna’s party members uttered in shock. They never expected that they would witness death in a place like this.

And their shock had sealed the fate of the orange players in front of them.

First was the player whose limbs had been staked, who abruptly shattered despite nothing happening to him. He must have died due to the most distinctive characteristic of Spear-type weapons, Piercing Damage-over-Time. 

The next moment, the player being hung suddenly went quiet, his body hanging loose like a puppet with its strings cut. He, too, shattered just as Asuna’s party turned their eyes on him.

An instant later, a small hooded shadow appeared next to the male player lying and coughing on the floor. 

Despite being Clearers with high Search skill, none among Asuna’s party had noticed the shadow, as if their minds had only just now recognized that what had been there all along was in fact a person. The party froze stock-still upon realizing the implication. 

The shadow had  _ perfected _ Hiding. 

The mystery person silently pulled out a dagger and swung haphazardly, slicing off the male player’s head as though he was nothing more than a clump of weed. The sound the blade made was far too light for the life that it had taken. 

The coughing man simply smiled in his last moments, as though grateful for the release from his suffering. In the gloomy forest, another life shattered into polygons.

By the time Asuna’s party came to their sense, all of the orange players that they were supposed to capture had already disappeared. Not because they had escaped with teleportation crystals, of course.

They had all been killed by the hooded shadow.

Before she knew it, Asuna had already unsheathed her rapier and stormed toward the shadow.

“Why are you-”

She was stopped by Heathcliff, who took a step forward in her stead.

“Why did you do this? Explain yourself,” he called to the shadow.

Having somewhat calmed down, Asuna took a closer look at them. To her surprise, their cursor was green, meaning he, or she, was not a criminal, nor were they a killer.

“Why, you say…?” the shadow answered, “they’re red players, that’s why. Isn’t it obvious?”

The moment she heard their- _ her  _ voice, Asuna felt as if her heart was gripped by an icy hand.

She couldn’t breath.

“Red players? Our info tells us they were only orange players who hadn’t yet killed.”

“...it’s rather common knowledge among the mid-rank players. They’d killed more than just a few. Using MPK, apparently, which is a lot harder to identify.”

“What?”

_ It was Frenda _ .

Asuna was convinced of it. She didn’t have any proof, but she knew.

The shadow’s voice was cold and barbed, far different from the voice in her memory, but she  _ knew _ it was Frenda in front of her.

“...and so you committed PK? Are you a member of Laughing Coffin, then?”

“... _ what did you just say? _ ”

The moment Frenda spoke, Asuna felt as though a thousand daggers were held to her skin. She could not believe what she was seeing.

She thought it was her friend in front of her, a sister full of so much love.

_ Then what was this bloodlust? _

_ How could it have come from her? _

“A member of Laughing Coffin?  _ Me _ ? You better watch your jokes… or I’ll  **kill you** ,” Frenda growled out.

Her gaze swept over Asuna for a single moment before turning away without a second glance. She took out a teleportation crystal and disappeared.

Only then did Asuna realize that she had been reaching out an arm toward Frenda. An arm that had recoiled in mid-air when she saw Frenda’s eyes, filled with nothing but hatred and anger.

“...Frenda…” Asuna muttered.

Her hand hung powerlessly, having never reached through that last bit of distance. A hand that grasped nothing but air.

After that, Asuna would not see Frenda again until the day of the raid on Laughing Coffin.

And SAO ended before she could have a second chance to talk with her again.

  
●

And so, she wondered if this was her punishment.

“Kirito?! What’s got you charging all the… way…”

Catching up with Kirito who had suddenly charged into a cloud of thick smoke without a care for his own safety, she found two girls.

One was clad in eye-catching pink from head to toe, looking so young she could be mistaken for a kid. However, her hands were holding a rugged-looking submachine gun, hinting at power that wasn’t apparent from her looks.

Then Asuna saw the other girl.

Her hair was blond now, and her face hadn’t been the same as during SAO. Her voice was likely different too. Her teary eyes were fixed on what looked like the remains of a handgun in her hands. Kirito must have sliced it apart when he mistook her for an enemy.

Asuna did not forget.

She could not forget.

Even after the support of her friends, even after the soothing honeymoon with Kirito, even after the wonderful days with Yui. And even after being entrusted with Yuuki’s invaluable gift.

She still could not forget her, she with dark eyes filled with hatred, who had always looked like she was in pain, whose obsession had led her to kill player-killers, to massacre the guild Laughing Coffin.

“... **kill you** .”

The embodiment of Asuna’s regrets once more appeared in front of her, having taken the name of her late sister for her own.


	14. World War Littlegirls - Quickening

A bolt of light passed in front of my eyes.

It melted apart the boulder we had been hiding behind, boiled the river’s water, and burned off a magazine pouch that had been attached to Llenn whom I had just pushed away.

On the blade’s return trip, it destroyed the IMI Desert Eagle I was holding.

...what?

_ What? _

**WHAT?!**

“Wait, it wasn’t them… oh shit.”

_ “aww shit” _ _   
_ _ “nooooooo” _ _   
_ _ “requiescate in pace” _ _   
_ _ “oshitoshitoshit” _ _   
_ _ “she already gets pissed enough when someone steals her handgun, and now this…” _ _   
_ _ “death sentence. no statements made by the defendant are to be accepted” _ _   
_ _ “merciless” _ _   
_ _ “shit man you can’t even laugh at this” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “I just said you can’t laugh, lolfag!” _

I heard noises. Noises coming from someone.

Who had a photon sword in hand, despite this game being one of guns and bullets.

Who was frozen in the posture of someone who had just finished swinging her sword.

Who had a look on her face that just screamed “Oopsie!”

Right. Yes. I see how it is.

“...kill you.”

She’s fucking dead.

I whipped out my AF2011-A1, its blade sparking violently as though channeling my own anger. At the same time, I opened the menu to materialize a handgun and switched it with the CZ 75 in my holster. My swing with the AF2011 had been parried despite it being a surprise attack with barely any telegraphing, a fact I paid no mind to as I responded with an additional assault from my CZ 75’s light-blue blade. 

No holding back.

I unleashed a Sword Skill upon my enemy. Eternal Cyclone, a four-hit combo and the final skill for Daggers (that had no relations with a certain two-in-one masked transforming superhero, by the way).

“Whoa, a bit too close there!” black-haired girl shouted as she swiftly left the range of my sword through footwork and parries. I clicked my tongue. 

That confirmed it, then. I was facing a SAO survivor. Brown-hair behind her looked  _ kind of  _ familiar, but I was probably just imagining it. There was no such good-looking-but-weedy and irritating black-haired girl in my circle of acquaintances. And also unlike that infernal SAO, there was no Sword Skill system in this game.

“Wah-wait, listen to me!”

“LIKE FUCK I CARE! DIEEEEE!”

Which meant there was no annoying Post-Motion here.

As soon as I figured out that all my hits had been parried, I moved on to another Sword Skill: Infinite, a five-hits Sword Skill from the Dagger category (that also had no relations to those lewd powered-armor suits that only women could wear, by the way). The flurry of attacks sped towards the black bastard (which was a perfectly good title to call her by, her girliness be damned).

“Whoa-holy crap!”

_ “wut” _ _   
_ _ “are all survivors like this…?” _ _   
_ _ “a battle of monsters” _ _   
_ _ “monster vs little girl?” _ _   
_ _ “jesus...” _

I clicked my tongue, this time a lot more forcefully. All my attacks got parried  _ again _ . What the hell is her? Does she have a built-in accelerator or something?

All right, fine. Other than her inhuman reflexes, there was nothing special about her as a player. After I made her pay with his life, I’ll just get her to grind the “Eagle of the Desert” special quest for me.

As I exchanged blows with the black bastard, a single bullet line appeared to pierce through me. Looked like we had a sniper hiding nearby. The line had shown up right at the moment I dodged Blackie’s counterattack, which meant that unless it had been beginner’s luck, the sniper was a pretty good one. 

Not really a problem for me, though. There were plenty of ways to deal with this.

Blackie got ready to deal a second blow. I grabbed her arm — the one that wasn’t holding anything — and twisted it up from below, forcing her body into the bullet line. It was a bit unsatisfying to not be the one to kill her myself, but a death from friendly-fire would still be pretty good. Just desserts.

Yet as I was busying myself with my thoughts, Blackie roared, swinging her photon sword at the bullet line despite her lack of stable footing. And at the same time, I heard the distinctive  _ shwoom _ that a photon sword made when it hit something.

...what the  _ fuck? _

Did she just cut bullets while having  _ one arm disabled and a broken posture _ ?

“Are you  _ kidding  _ me?!” I couldn’t help but utter.

_ “you’re one to talk bell” _ _   
_ _ “that’s rich coming from a madwoman whose build revolved entirely around handguns” _ _   
_ _ “honestly both of them are just the same crazy to me” _ _   
_ _ “oh wait I remember!” _

In a corner of my eyes, I saw a glint of light. It matched the direction of the previous bullet line, so I was ninety percent sure it was the sniper’s scope catching sunlight. Likely, it had been a mistake they’d made upon being shaken by Blackie cutting their bullet, or maybe by the fact that they were just about to shoot their own ally.

“Llenn!!” I shouted to Pinkie behind me, who already had her favorite P90 in hands.

_ “yes, Llenn!” _ _   
_ _ “bell’s latent leadership skills have appeared” _ _   
_ _ “the player fighting Bell is that lightsaber maniac, isn’t she?!” _ _   
_ _ “holy shit” _ _   
_ _ “still isn’t going to win against bell now that she’s ruined her handgun” _

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” Llenn promptly replied and broke into a sprint, seemingly having also noticed the glint of light.

“Oh crap! Asuna!” Blackie shouted.

The water below Llenn’s feet exploded with her steps as the pink bolt of lightning reached top speed in an instant, dashing into the thicket where the sniper was hiding. Behind Blackie, the female player with  _ very familiar  _ brown hair and called by the  _ very familiar _ name of Asuna attempted to chase after Llenn. She might as well not bother. About the only player who could catch up to Llenn was probably Yamikaze, the fastest player in the entirety of GGO.

Two seconds after Llenn dove into the thicket, I heard the characteristic  _ rat-tat-tah  _ of the P90’s rapid-firing gunshots. Blackie, who had continued to swordfight with me during that two seconds, immediately looked shaken upon hearing the gunshots. The sniper must have died. Good riddance.

“Llenn!!”

“Roger, ma’am!”

_ “wtf is with this little girl combination, it’s the scariest thing I’ve seen all year” _ _   
_ _ “I think I’ve seen this game somewhere before” _ _   
_ _ “Llenn! Use Quick Attack!” _ _   
_ _ “pikapika!” _ _   
_ _ “that’s the wrong pokemon” _ _   
_ _ “lol” _ _   
_ _ “pumped all her EVs into speed didn’t she” _ _   
_ _ “It’s Time to Talk, Lolfag” _ _   
_ _ “wow sounds like a LN title” _

I called Llenn back, and the pink lightning struck from the forest and toward the brown-haired… okay yeah she’s totally Asuna the Flash, isn’t she? Dashing toward her and mercilessly sprayed her with bullets at point-blank range, Llenn’s movements so smooth she’d make a mafia hitman blush. (Tentative) Asuna squeaked in surprise just moments before her HP was wiped clean.

...if she really was Asuna, then she had gotten a lot more sluggish than before. I wondered what happened.

“Shit, Asuna?!”

“DON’T YOU LOOK AWAY NOW, BLACKIE!!!”

_ “I never knew bell was actually voiced by wakamoto” _ _   
_ _ “uhh guys she’s overwhelming the lightsaber maniac in melee combat here???” _ _   
_ _ “that’s just Bell-quality” _ _   
_ _ “get ‘er, Bell!” _

I unleashed Fad Edge, a four-hit Sword Skill for Daggers split into two vertical and two horizontal strikes. Blackie responded with Horizontal Square, a five-hit Sword Skill for One-Handed Sword. Our swords clashed once, then twice, the blades exploding in violent sparks with each collision. 

I felt the strange sensation of my own mind racing faster,  _ faster _ , and without limits, as I pulled my attention away from my right hand while it was about to deal out the remaining two slashes with the CZ 75. It felt bizarre, like the signals in my mind were a train that I had just pulled the lever to divert, and as I watched my CZ 75 intercepting my opponent’s blade almost automatically, I focused and  _ moved _ my left hand holding the AF2011 to cut her down.

As I was about to unleash Accel Raid, an eight-hits combo for Daggers and the Sword Skill with the highest number of hits that I could replicate, a loud klaxon suddenly blared from the depths of the forest. Accompanying the noise was the sound of trees violently cracking and breaking.

…I think I know what’s coming.

With a final  _ boom _ , our duel by the riverside was interrupted by the appearance of a camouflaged LAV hurtling out of the trees. Through the flying fragments of wood that littered the air, I focused my eyes. On the vehicle’s roof was mounted a machinegun, while sitting in the driver’s seat was a male player with a bandana on his forehead and the face of a bandit. The Howa Type 64 in his hands was aimed at me. Similarly, in the shotgun seat was a female player with short, baby-pink hair, who was holding a (fittingly enough) Benelli M3 shotgun towards me.

“Dodge, Kirito!”

“Wait-hold on, Klein, she’s not the target!!”

_ “what the hell…?” _ _   
_ _ “how rich are these guys???” _ _   
_ _ “jesus christ they have the credits for an armored vehicle?” _ _   
_ _ “doesn’t Pitohui have one too?” _ _   
_ _ “well of course she does” _

A  _ lot  _ of bullet lines appeared on me. I was trapped, with no way out. Blackie — who had been called ‘Kirito’, though it was likely just me mishearing it — was shouting something at the bandit-ish driver while retreating, and so I no longer had to worry about being cut down. At least I got that going for me.

Llenn was peppering the armored vehicle with bullets, which was probably meaningless anyway. It was practically impossible for a P90 to penetrate the vehicle’s armor. To do so would require firepower on the level of the super-rare anti-materiel sniper rifle Ultima Ratio Hecate II that the famous sniper Sinon used…

...or the Thunder .50 BMG that was in my holster.

The Thunder .50 BMG, official name Triple Action Thunder, was a large handgun that used .50 (12.7mm) ammunition, the same caliber as the IMI Desert Eagle that Blackie had just murdered a while ago.

Yes, it’s a handgun. No, really, I swear. It’s just a handgun that used the same .50 BMG cartridge as the M2 Browning machine gun instead of normal high-caliber handgun ammunition, that was all. An absolutely normal high-caliber handgun, I tell you.

I put the CZ 75 into my inventory and swapped the AF2011 in my hand for the Thunder. As it was of similar size to the enormous Pfeifer Zeliska, I held the Thunder tightly in both hands and aimed it at the LAV charging at me.

The target was straight ahead. I couldn’t miss in a million years.

“Take this!!”

_ “holy fucking christ the thunder?!” _ _   
_ _ “a beautiful handgun” _ _   
_ _ “GIMMEEEEEEEEEEEEE” _ _   
_ _ “calm your tits Pitohui” _ _   
_ _ “jesus” _ _   
_ _ “we’ve got a biggun today boys” _ _   
_ _ “uh, does she even need the Pfeifer then…?” _ _   
_ _ “there’s no such thing as an unnecessary handgun, you dumbass!” _

I pulled the trigger.

Thunder struck.

My vision rolled and tumbled, and my head banged against something with a dull  _ thwack _ . 

I had been blown away, my small avatar unable to bear the  _ absurd  _ blowback of the handgun. Clicking my tongue in annoyance at my flickering vision, I instantly jumped back up to my feet and saw the LAV veering off, likely due to the force of the Thunder’s bullet. It then slammed into a large boulder by the riverside and stopped moving, looking as though somebody had taken an enormous sledgehammer and went to town on its front half. The two players within were stuck between the seats and the bent vehicle frame, unable to move.

This was my chance.

“Miss Bell?! A-Are you okay?!”

“...not sure how, but I’m fine. Anyway, can you deal with the people on the LAV for me?”

“Understood!”

As soon as she gave her answer, the pink flash disappeared from my sight.

...she might actually be faster than Yamikaze, even.

Soon after, I heard the merciless  _ rat-tat-tat  _ of her gun, followed by the sound of glass shattering twice. The two on the LAV were confirmed dead, then. Only the black bastard left. Who was blankly looking at the LAV with his mouth hanging open as the vehicle exploded in flames, Llenn’s  _ rending _ (heh) burst of bullets having dealt the last blow to its HP.

“Only you and me now, Blackie,” I called at him.

_ “blacky must die” _ _   
_ _ “steady… steady…” _ _   
_ _ “RIP lightsaber girl” _ _   
_ _ “nah she’s not allowed to rest until she’s done farming desert eagles” _ _   
_ _ “yeah that” _

“Uh, ‘Blackie’...?”

He was looking at me as though I had two heads and breathed fire. Apparently he still hadn’t realized his sins, and so I told him in the most satanic voice I could summon up.

“Remember that gun? The one you cut in half? It’s a rare item that only has a tiny chance to drop from one single quest.”

“My utmost apologies!”

Blackie dropped down to the ground so quickly it made a bit of a  _ thud _ that echoed around the riverside.

_ “that’s a textbook perfect prostration” _ _   
_ _ “the spirit of japan” _ _   
_ _ “if prostrations work, we wouldn’t need police” _ _   
_ _ “might have been a mistake but that doesn’t mean anyone who broke Bell’s handgun should be forgiven” _ _   
_ _ “JUDGEMENT SHALL BE DONE” _ _   
_ _ “sic ‘em, bell!” _

He, too, was a gamer, so I was sure he understood the pain of losing a rare item. That didn’t excuse him, however. I set the AF2011’s photon blade onto his defenseless neck and spoke my demands.

“Do you know what you must do?”

“Argh… h-how much credit is it worth in game?”

“It’s not your money I want.”

“Whoawhoawhoa-got it! I’ll go farm the quest until it drops so please stop pushing on that photon sword! Please!”

“Also give me all the pistols you have. I’ll consider it reparations.”

“...umm, I only have a Five-seven I bought from the shop at Glocken. Should I bring you some other rare stuff?”

“I do not discriminate between handguns. Give it to me.”

“Right! Yes, ma’am!”

_ “never seen a smoother robbery” _ _   
_ _ “master of extortion” _ _   
_ _ “a true tyrant” _ _   
_ _ “but that’s exactly why we love her” _ _   
_ _ “seconded” _ _   
_ _ “thirded” _ _   
_ _ “fourthed” _ _   
_ _ “I wouldn’t mind if she step on my head when I’m groveling. In fact please do” _ _   
_ _ “reported” _

Blackie opened up the menu and sent me a trade request for his Five-seven, impressively while  _ still _ groveling. I quickly tapped the button and finished the reparations.

Blackie then turned his head upward and looked at me, seemingly in surprise.

“Umm, did you give me credits by mistake?”

“That’s the market price for a Five-seven. No need to doubt it, it’s a fair price.”

“No, I mean, I thought this was supposed to be reparations, so me getting credits for this is, uh…”

“Hmm? What’s the problem? You’d need a replacement handgun, wouldn’t you?”

“...I guess I should say thanks?”

_ “as warm and caring as the sun” _ _   
_ _ “a perfect follow-up” _ _   
_ _ “a truly benevolent ruler” _ _   
_ _ “this is why we can never stop watching Bell” _ _   
_ _ “seconded” _ _   
_ _ “the viewers here just tapdancing between their stances” _ _   
_ _ “changing minds faster than bell could say ‘pistol!’” _ _   
_ _ “wow even the money to buy a gun” _

Blackie said his gratitude with an ambivalent look on his face. I just smiled and swung the photon sword I’d been holding at his neck.

Hey, I never said I’d spare him.

My grudge lessened a smidge as I watched his head fly, shock coloring his expression. I and Llenn — who kept trembling in what looked like terror, for some reason — returned to Glocken together. I was going to have to send Blackie a friend request after I killed him one more time. Can’t find him if he’s not in my friend list, after all.

“Let’s meet again some time, Llenn.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Oh hey, look. Somebody left an anti-materiel rifle lying around.”

_ “oshit” _ _   
_ _ “poor sinon…” _ _   
_ _ “RIP” _ _   
_ _ “uh oh” _ _   
_ _ “...oh well, if somebody left it, somebody left it!” _ _   
_ _ “wait, if this dropped from the one Llenn killed then it belongs to her doesn’t it?” _ _   
_ _ “LLENNNNNNNNNNNNN I’m bringing five hundred k right now wait right there don’t go anywhere!!!!!!” _ _   
_ _ “Pitohui escaped! After her!!!!” _

Some said the wailing howl of an aqua-haired sniper echoed in Glocken that day.

●

  
  
**[Inhuman Little Girl]** The Bell Thread, Part 9

1: Anonymous Gamer

This thread is for discussion about Bell, a smol VR streamer and SAO survivor who’d shown up out of the blue one day. 

Talk about other streamers goes on other threads. 

The hater thread never existed. Understood?

**[Blond-Haired Little Girl]** Streamer Bell Thread:  Link

**[Handguns Only]** Streamer Bell Thread:  Link

**[Link Compendium]** The Bell Thread, Part 3~8:  Link

…

…

…

  
  


120: Anonymous Gamer

great episode again today

121: Anonymous Gamer

who here also loves watching smol girls killing each other?

122: Anonymous Gamer

though I thought I was watching another program mid-way through

123: Anonymous Gamer

>>122

don’t mind it, happens all the time in her streams

but yeah, I laughed when it suddenly turned into a handgun lesson out of nowhere

124: Anonymous Gamer

today, we gathered here to mourn the passing of a good handgun

125: Anonymous Gamer

oh Desert Eagle, we hardly even knew you

126: Anonymous Gamer

and then pissed-off Bell just absolutely wrecked the lightsaber maniac in close combat. insane

are all survivors like that?

127: Anonymous Survivor

nah, it’s not like we were all monsters or anything. Also on a side note, the squadron that lightsaber maniac belonged to? Probably full of ex-clearers.

in fact how’d you figure out they were survivors?

128: Anonymous Gamer

>>127

hey there

well the black one managed to hold her own against Bell the survivor, obviously that makes her one too doesn’t it?

129: Anonymous Gamer

lol  _ that’s _ how you decide? I mean, you’re not wrong…

does look like black girl was better at cutting bullets. I wonder what would happen if the LAV didn’t interrupt them

personally I’d bet on Bell

130: Anonymous Gamer

yeah seriously, never imagined she could cut an anti-materiel’s bullet even in that posture. Which is why I vote for the lightsaber maniac!

131: Anonymous Gamer

>>130

we have a traitor in our midst! kill ‘em!

so the stream stopped after she returned to Glocken, but I saw Bell posting on Twister that they also had another fight afterward

132: Anonymous Gamer

whaaaaattt?! why didn’t she upload that fight then??? I still need me some more of that fluttering floofy frilly apron dress!!!

133: Anonymous Gamer

>>132

reported

and now that that’s over, here’s something I’m pretty sure y’all been waiting for: a collection of all the fighting scenes from her stream today

Highlights of World War Littlegirls:  LINK

134: Anonymous Gamer

doing god’s work

135: Anonymous Gamer

thanks

136: Anonymous Gamer

thankee-sai

137: Anonymous Gamer

may you never forget the face of your father

138: Anonymous Gamer

>>137

it’s an old reference sir, but it checks out

tbh I have no idea who’d win either. I mean, her fight with llenn ended in the weirdest way too

139: Anonymous Survivor

>>129

probably lightsaber maniac would win if it comes to a fight. Not because Bell’s weak or anything, but because she’s facing the craziest motherfucker out there

all you VRMMO players out there, you recognize the name ‘kirito’, don’t you?

140: Anonymous Gamer

awww shiiittt you mean the monster who took second place in ALO’s tournament?

...wait hold the fuck up, that meant not only did Bell survive a fight with Kirito but she even  _ overwhelmed _ him??? what the absolute shit???

141: Anonymous Gamer

that tournament’s full of monsters, really. From Eugene to the Absolute Sword…

wait back the fuck up, did Bell seriously give the second best of that tournament a run for his money??? you shitting me????!??

142: Anonymous Gamer

>>140 >>141

I just chalk it up to Bell being Bell and stop thinking, less headache for me that way

speaking of which, what happened to that anti-materiel rifle? has it return to its owner yet? is it still okay? not eaten by Pitohui yet?

143: Anonymous Lol

I saw Sinon on the floor happily hugging the Hecate just a while ago, so things are probably all right.

144: Anonymous Gamer

OMG LOLFAG??!?!?

145: Anonymous Gamer

oh yeah, they did speak a while ago didn’t they… wait really?!?!?

146: Anonymous Gamer

come on guys what’s got you so surprised… AASAHFSALHLIK LOLFAG TALKED?!?!?!

147: Anonymous Gamer

gentlemen, I bring you grave news

turns out lolfag isn’t a bot

148: Anonymous Lol

Well, I never knew what to talk about. It just happens.

149: Anonymous Gamer

so you  _ just happen _ to lol all the time?

oh well such is life

150: Anonymous Gamer

wait didn’t we figure out lolfag was actually a girl some time ago?

151: Anonymous Gamer

>>150

no doxxing man, things on the internet stays on the internet

...wait a minute, haven’t we been digging quite a bit into Bell’s real life and her time in SAO…?

152: Anonymous Gamer

think no further, that way lies madness

153: Anonymous Gamer

the truth of the universe is too much for the mortal minds of men

154: Anonymous Survivor

getting off topic guys

well at least Sinon didn’t get her partner taken by another girl

I-I’ve always b-believed Bell would never d-do that…

right…?

155: Anonymous Gamer

you don’t sound very sure of yourself survivorfag

156: Anonymous Gamer

haven’t seen Pitohui for a while now, maybe she’s sulking over that

157: Anonymous Gamer

that’s a cute image

...or maybe not

just makes her look like a womanchild on a tantrum, really

158: Anonymous Gamer

yeah, with the way her avatar is that’s about what I expect

on the other hand we get Bell and Llenn. Absolutely adorable

159: Anonymous Gamer

if I remember correctly, those rare avatars wouldn’t even be added into the pool for you to roll your avatars from unless you’ve played VRMMOs created from the Seed for a really long time.

...wait, then maybe the Seed is actually based on SAO? despite being open-source that part’s still a mystery to us

in which case maybe Llenn’s a survivor too

160: Anonymous Gamer

>in which case maybe Llenn’s a survivor too

nah no way, that’s absolutely impossible

...right? right?

161: Anonymous Gamer

are people just saying every strong players are survivors now?

162: Anonymous Survivor

regrettably representing the survivors who weren’t all that strong here

also Llenn probably isn’t a survivor. If she is she would have been using a photon sword instead of the P90

163: Anonymous Gamer

I see, since survivors came from the melee-focused Planet of the Apes that was SAO, they’d still be using photon swords as a sign of their apeness in GGO

...hold on a second did I just call Bell an ape?

164: Anonymous Gamer

>>163

guilty

165: Anonymous Gamer

to the guillotine with you

166: Anonymous Gamer

no extenuating circumstances here

167: Anonymous Gamer

objection!!

168: Anonymous Gamer

the defendant is, and always will be, overruled

169: Anonymous Gamer

please sir, may I have some mercy

●  


She opened her eyes. Eyes of silver with a mirror sheen, with irises faintly shining with the colors of the rainbow. Filling her sight was a luxurious bed canopy made from the best fabric of this world.

“System Call.”

From her lips came a voice as mellifluous as the music of angels.

Summoned by her words, a translucent screen of purple appeared, its color resembling that of the bed she lay on and the carpet that covered the floor. She continued watching the screen for some time before sedately getting up, her long silvery hair pooling on the sheets.

As soon as she moved, a voice came from the knight standing guard outside of her room.

“Have you arisen, lady Highest Minister?”

She gave a short answer and quietly stood up, then made her way to the enormous dresser opposite of the door. Haphazardly selecting a piece of cloth, she wrapped it around herself in a way that still left her freedom of movement intact, finally putting on an elaborate robe.

She left the room. The kneeling knight waiting outside spoke, informing her of the day’s plans.

“My lady, your first agenda for today is a meeting with the four Guardian Dragons, Dragon Knights, and Integrity Knights, following which will be an audience with the four Emperors. Finally, you have a tea party with Alice Zuberg, who had briefly returned from the Sword Mastery Academy.”

“I see,” she replied, “understood. Thank you, Fanatio.”

“We do not deserve your gratitude, lady Highest Minister.”

Chuckling at her knight’s excessive formality, she began moving toward the dining room to take the meal prepared for her.

The knight walked in front of her, a tall form that made herself look like nothing more than a child.

  
  


It had been so long.

So, so long since she began her journey.

Four hundred years since her first mistake.

With her god-given second chance, she had made all the preparations she could, eliminating as many unnecessary sacrifices as possible.

No one would die.

Never again would she let those in her reach die.

She had already gained the power she needed.

Alice had been acquired.

Project Alicization was meant to begin with the birth of Alice, a Fluctlight who’d surpassed their limits, and so she expected things to have already been put in motion.

Kirito. Eugeo. And finally, Alice.

It had been quite an ordeal to reenact the three’s fates, and at the same time nudging things to result in the best outcome possible.

But she believed it had all been worth it.

The final load test. The appearance of the Creator and of the Dark God. The arrival of the fairy warriors.

All she had done had been to survive this war.

To survive, and to meet her once more.

“I can finally see you again, big sis.”


End file.
